apple

Our friend had an abundance of apples to share from her trees, and she invited us over to pick our fill. We still have quite a bit of apple sauce canned from last fall so I wanted to do something different. I remembered that we hardly made any apple butter last fall (We skipped our annual apple butter festival) so that is the inspiration we needed to make this simple apple recipe.

Apple butter is a great fun fall treat. It’s almost like a spreadable apple pie filling. We love it just on toast, but we have made it into apple butter cinnamon rolls before as well. Serve it on a cheese board or smothering the top of a baked brie cheese!

Making apple butter is very straightforward. You can make it completely to taste and you can can up any extras for your long term storage.

Core and chop apples. Peel them as well, if you do not have a strainer.

Use a mix of sweet ant tart apples for the best flavor.

Add a 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the pan. Cook apples on low with the lid on for a few hours until soft. You can do this in a roaster pan, crock pot or on the stovetop.

You should be able to easily mash an apple chunk with the back of a spoon.

Put apples through a saucer, strainer or food mill, puree with an immersion blender, or mash with a potato masher.

The product you are left with should be plain apple sauce.

Return apple sauce to a slow cooker or a pot over low heat. Add sugar and spices, vinegar and lemon juice.

Cook for 4-6 hours until spreadable consistency (without excess liquid) is reached–stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

You may check to see if a mounded spoonful stays mounded when cool. Or see if a spoonful on a plate stays in a mound or if liquid seeps out around the edges. If it does– continue cooking down longer.

Apple butter can be canned for long storage. Pour hot butter into sterile half-pint or pint jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Process 5 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Quart jars are processed for 10 minutes and need not be presterilized.

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Spiced Apple Butter

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Apple butter is a great fun fall treat. It's almost like a spreadable apple pie filling. Delicious just on toast. Or serve it on a cheese board or smothering the top of a baked brie cheese!

Ingredients

• Mix of apples to make puree -around 5lbs
• for each 3 quarts of apple puree***
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 2 dashes ground cloves
• 2 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 T lemon juice

Instructions

1

Core and chop apples. Peel as well, if you do not have a strainer.

2

Add a 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the pan. Cook apples on low with the lid on for a few hours until soft. You can do this in a roaster pan, crock pot or on the stovetop.

3

Put apples through a saucer, puree with an immersion blender, or mash with a potato masher.

4

Return apple sauce to a slow cooker or a pot on low heat. Add sugar and spices, and vinegar and lemon juice.

5

Cook for 4-6 hours until spreadable consistency (without excess liquid) is reached--stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

Notes

Makes 5-6 pints. Apple butter can be canned for long storage. Pour hot butter into sterile half-pint or pint jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Process 5 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Quart jars are processed for 10 minutes and need not be presterilized.