Apple Butter

We are busy people. A lot of delicious things take a lot of time to cook, and when weekends are booked end to end with activities, sometimes cooking can be a real challenge. We've found that the crock pot offers a great way to really leverage what time we do have efficiently.

With the holidays coming up, most gift giving will be home made stuff. From our Milk & Honey Stout, to pickles, to knitted and crocheted things. The following is a recipe for apple butter - one that you can either put into sterile jars and then into the fridge or freezer, or one that you can can in a water canner for longer storage.


Ingredients
5.5 - 6lbs of apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup apple juice/cider
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp ginger
pinch of salt


Combine all the ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 1 hour. Remove the lid, and cook on low (stirring occasionally), until the apple butter reaches a spreadable consistency and is dark brown in color. (You may need to use the immersion blender for super smooth texture) Put into hot, sterilized jars, taking care not to fill past the headspace line.

Alternatively, do what we did: Cook on high for 45 minutes. Reduce to low, leaving lid in place. Leave for your weekly tabletop game. (Pathfinder, for those who are curious.) Arrive home about 9.5 hours later because you had to go do field work for work. Stir down all the big pieces of apple, then mix with the immersion mixer. Set lid offset 1-2 inches so water evaporates, and collapse into bed. In the morning, wake up, stir thoroughly. Turn off your crock pot for about an hour, then set the whole thin in the fridge. Let it sit in the fridge for a day. Then, reheat the apple butter, sterilize cans, and process in a water canner.

To Can: Process the jars for 10 minutes in a water bath canner. Refrigerate any jars that fail to seal properly.

To Freeze: Use sterilized wide mouth freezer jars. Fill to the head space line. Use within a year, for the best quality.