Apple Butter

A few weeks ago, I made some apple butter.  It was actually a slow cooker recipe.  But I did it a little differently, and it still came out delicious.

Instead of coring and pairing the apples and cooking them in the slow cooker, I simply washed, cut and cooked them with skins and cores in tact.  Once they were mushy, I put them through my strainer.  It saved me a lot of time on the prep end.

Then I added the sugar and spices to the sauce and dumped it in the slow cooker to meld the flavors for four or five hours.  

It was all I could do not to eat the whole batch before it was done cooking!  And the house smelled wonderful!!! 

Incidentally, I didn’t have any ground cloves, so I had to get creative with a hammer and strainer.  Lol!  You needed to know that, right?

Apple Butter

Ingredients:

• @6 lbs of apples (I used Jonathans)
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups of raw or brown sugar. 
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves (I’m going to use less next time)
• 3-4 teaspoons cinnamon

Peel and core the apples.  Cook in a slow cooker until mushy.  Then mush them up and add the spices.  Cook for a few more hours.

OR

Cut up the apples with skins and cores in tact.  Cook them on the stove till mushy, adding a dribble of water to the pan in the beginning, and stirring often.  Then put it through a strainer, add spices, and cook in a slow cooker for several hours. 

It will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.  Or you can freeze/can some.  Jars of apple butter would make wonderful Christmas gifts for teachers or anyone!  Just print off your own creative label and tie a pretty ribbon around the lid. 

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This is the first time I’ve made apple butter, and I was delighted with how easy it was!  It’s the perfect way to use up the great buys on apples this time of year.  :)