Improv Challenge: Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce

It's time again for the Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

The assigned ingredients this month were cinnamon and sugar.  Hmm.  Cinnamon and sugar.  Of course, I wanted to think beyond baked goods with this challenge.  I tried to come up with something savory that contained cinnamon and sugar, but it wasn't easy.  I scanned my Pinterest boards for inspiration, and finally came upon a pin for this recipe on Coconut and Lime.  It's a homemade barbecue sauce.  I have made homemade barbecue sauce before: a basic one, and then last year I made Mango Barbecue Sauce for the Eating the Alphabet challenge.  This one is really interesting because it doesn't use a tomato product as the base.  But you would never know it.  The base is apple butter.  

Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

½ large onion, diced

1½ cups apple butter

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp garlic powder

1-2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 tsp mesquite liquid smoke

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp hot sauce 

Directions:

Heat oil in a saucepan.  Sauté onion until it begins to soften.  Add remaining ingredients.  Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.  You can use it as it is now, or you can simmer it on the lowest setting until heated through and thickened slightly. Allow to cool.

Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes about 2 cups.

 Of course, how it turns out depends largely on the apple butter you use.  I had never made apple butter before, so I bought some at the store.  I only had time to hit the regular grocery store, so I ended up with Musselman's.  If I had more time that day, I would have gone to the Cheese Castle, because they have an awesome selection of specialty jams, jellies, and all kinds of condiments.  I bet they would have some really good apple butter there.  But it was just fine with the Musselman's.  I put 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar in the recipe because how much you need will depend on how sweet your apple butter is.  The Musselman's is pretty sweet.  I used 2 tbsp, and it did turn out pretty sweet, but that's okay because that's how my husband likes it.  I did add a tiny bit of hot sauce to counter the sweetness.  I used Clancy's Fancy, which I got in my Taste of Michigan swag bag.  It was perfect for this because it's really smoky-tasting.

I thought the best way to try this barbecue sauce out was on some grilled chicken. 

 It was fabulous.  I served it with my Foil Pack Potatoes and some corn.

This is really good barbecue sauce!  The apple and cinnamon make for a very interesting flavor that is perfect for chicken or pork.

Homemade barbecue sauce is so easy to make and it really adds a nice touch to your summer grilling.

Check out all the other cinnamon and sugar recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with fish and chips.  Oh boy!