Something else I am excited about is FALL! It's here. I love this time of year. I love breaking out my sweaters, and seeing the kids play in the leaves. I love that I can run my oven all day if I want to without worrying about it heating up the house. We took advantage of some of the nice weather a few weekends back and headed out to an apple orchard. We filled several big bags with all different types of apples. The kids were only interested in the ones that would be best for snacking, but I had other plans. I decided I was going to make apple butter. I'll admit, until recently, canning creeped me out. I don't know why, I have just always thought it was weird. Now I am whole heartedly embracing the weirdness. I mastered salsa and peppers this past summer(under careful supervision), and decided it was time to venture into the world of canning on my own...
I went with apple butter because it is a key component of a recipe I am developing. That project is looking VERY promising, so stay tuned. As far as the apple butter goes, it was ridiculously easy and the results were just delicious. Since we were at an apple orchard I had a huge variety of apples to choose from, and I went with two different kinds. Stellar and Enterprise, I know, I had never heard of those types of apples either. You might wonder why I went with those, when there were so many other options. It was pretty simple. The orchard had a paper explaining the tastes, textures, and best uses for each of the apples, and those were the two varieties they recommended for apple butter. I went with the experts. This apple butter is made in the crock pot, and is so simple. It is sweet, but not too sweet, and the spices make it warm and comforting. The cooking time is long, but the actual work involved is minimal. I started this in the evening, and let it cook overnight. The long, slow cooking adds a hint of caramel flavor to the apple butter. Feel free to adjust the amounts of sugar based on the apples you use. We have been enjoying this on toast for breakfast, and yes, that is store bought white bread in the picture, don't judge me.
Apple Butter
adapted from allrecipes
7 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
Put the apples in a crock pot. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and spices. Pour over apples and mix well to coat all the apples. Cover and cook on high one hour. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, 9 hours, stirring occassionally. Uncover and cook on low for one hour. Stir with a whisk, or mash with a potato masher to reach desired consistency. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, and water bath for ten minutes. When taking the jars out of the water bath, set them upside down to cool. This made eight half-pint jars of apple butter.
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