Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Apple Butter

Yesterday (and today) I made apple butter for the first time. A couple of years ago Jay's childhood neighbor got married around Thanksgiving, and on all of the tables at the reception they had the most delicious apple butter ever--all homemade by Linda!

I finally got up the nerve to try it, so here is Linda's recipe, step by step--with photos, of course!

1. Peel, core, and chop 1.5 bags of Granny Smith apples (I just used one 5 pound bag) and 3 Golden Delicious apples and fill the crock pot. Add 2 cups of apple cider, cover and simmer on low for 8 to 10 hours.


2. Add 2 cups white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice. Cook on high for another 8 to 10 hours. (Yes, you do cook them on high. I double checked because I was sure I was either going to start a fire or end up with some kind of apple paste. But high is correct.)


3. This is what it looked like this morning after the 8 to 10 hours on high. Blend the cooked ingredients in an electric blender. (I'm not sure what other kind of blender there is, but there's a lot I don't know about cooking, so I'm just going to tell you what Linda told me.)


4. Place the blended apples in a dutch oven and cook at 350 degrees for one hour to thicken. (After some consulting with my mom, I decided this covered casserole dish would have to do, because nothing at the store was labeled "Dutch Oven"--leaving me a little unsure about this whole thing.)


5. Place the baked sauce in sterilized jars and seal.

3 comments:

Amber said...

I am definitely going to try this! It looks great!

Sara said...

Seriously, that looks fabulous! I'll have to get up the nerve to do this when it's gets a little chillier.

momichelle said...

we use a dutch oven for camping. never thought to put one in the oven.

sounds great. maybe I can think of a reason to try it with my class.