An Apple A Day....

I peeled and cored so many apples the past two days I have a blister on my finger to prove my hard work of labor:)....I am not complaining in the least, I truly love making homemade "whatever" grabs my fancy...

This week was Apple Sauce and Apple Butter with an Apple Pie thrown into the mix....

 

 Below is the beginning stage of CrockPot Apple Butter

 This was a "first" for me.  I have never attempted making Apple Butter in the past, but I sure do love the stuff!  After doing a little research and comparing different techniques with other brave home based connoisseurs, I decided to give the Crock Pot technique a try...

I filled my large crock to the rim with the three Apples I had purchased, (Post before this one has them listed)...I then added the ingredients that would transform this plain dish into an amazing sauce that tastes so yummmmo on bread, muffins or crackers....

 Added on top of the apples is:

2 Cups of Sugar

2 Tsp of Cinnamon

1/4 tsp of Cloves

1/4 tsp of Nutmeg

 

I Mixed the apples and spices together, applied the lid and turned on high for 5 hours..

After 5 hours of cooking down the apples, I mixed the apples with my electric mixer to a sauce like mixture, reapplied the lid, turned the temperature down on low and went to bed...

In the morning I gave the mixture a good stir.  I cooked the sauce for approximately 24 hours giving it a good stir every two hours or so.... 

I prepared my jars for canning a head by cleaning them in the dishwasher.  The sauce is very hot when you divide into the jars, I did not have to boil the jars for the lids to seal.  After the jars were filled 1 inch from the jar opening, I turned them upside down for several hours.  Your lid should be completely flat after several hours, if the lid is not flat and you can push the lid in, it has not properly sealed.

This is what the Apple Butter looked like the following morning after placed in jars...

I am so pleased with the texture outcome!! 

And the taste is...AMAZING!

With the same batch of Apples, I also made Apple Sauce...

This is a very easy recipe of Apples and Cinnamon.

No sugar is needed when you use a good variety of sweet apples...

 Prepare your apples the same as you would for the Apple Butter..

Place apples in a large cooking pot, add your cinnamon to your taste
and bring the apple mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. 
Your apples will not take long to cook down and become soft.

After the apples are cooked down, take a potato masher or any kitchen gadget you have to 

mash the apples to a sauce like texture.  After your apples are mashed to your liking,

immediately place the sauce into your jars and seal the lids, place jars upside down as 

shown below.  Apple Sauce can also be placed in freezer containers and froze when 

Completely cooled.  I have done the freezer containers in the past and it tastes just as fresh as

jarring them. 

If I have time next week, I am seriously contemplating another trip for apples and completing 

the process again...

I'm thinking a head for the holidays, the Apple Butter would make a nice gift basket with some Home Made Bread, some Crackers and a variety of muffins...!

Thanks for stopping by, have a safe and fun week-end my friends..!