Home made apple butter

[towerclimber]

apples-2 bags from wal-mart
2 tsp cinnamon
2cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla (I used 2 tsp)

quarter the apples and remove the cores... (peel if you like I did not) Put all apples in crock pot add vanilla cover and cook for 8hours on low.

After 8 hours mash apples mix in remaining ingredients cover and cook for another 6 hours.

All finished put in jars and store!

When mine was done I put it in my food processor and pureed it before putting in jars!

So good and so easy! Make sure that you have biscuits when it is finished!!

[Davy Crockett]

Thanks, towerclimber
I remember doing this as a kid.
Still have a kettle (no paddles)

It was a big deal and lots of work

I'll be giving yours a try

[PyratePrincess]

Thanks Towerclimber

2 questions. Do you know if you can successfully "half" the recipe? Some recipes you can't.

Question 2: Does the type of apple matter? Can you mix apple types?
(guess that's 3 questions, lol)

I have about a bag of different variety apples that just aren't getting eaten. thought I might try this.

[Davy Crockett]

Another question,please

When you put in jars, do you put in hot and the jars seal or do you have to do them in a canner?

[LC]

Apple butter needs to be water bath canned. Don't remember the time off the top of my head and too lazy to go look it up.

An easy way to cook apples down for apple butter is in a large crock pot or an enamel cooker (like you see at big catered meals). Set them at about 200 degrees and just walk by and stir once in awhile, more as it gets thicker, and if you started in the morning you will have apple butter by evening. No standing and watching and stirring all of the time at the stove.

LC

[Cessna Driver]

What is a bag of apples? 5 pounds?

[Summerthyme]

A bag is probably 3#. Good question! (not pointed at the original poster here at all, but folks- when you post recipes, proof read them and see if there are any ambiguous measurements or ingredients.. most of us have some favorites which would be almost impossible to "translate" to someone not from our family or area)

To answer the other questions- no reason you can't mix varieties, and a mix might make a tastier butter... more complex flavor, just like mixing varieties for cider.

And LC is right- it does need water bath canning to keep properly without risk of mold. There's no sense in spending the time, money and electricity to make a batch and not take the final step that will let it keep for a year or more!!
Can't get the formatting right.,

Hot pack. Altitudes up to 1000 feet. Pints or half pints 5 minutes. Quarts 10 minutes
1001-6000' pints or half pints 10 minutes Quarts 15 minutes
Above 6000' pints or half pints 15 minutes Quarts 20 minutes

[towerclimber]

This recipe is for 5 pounds.

I used a crock pot to cook them in and let em cook down, I didn't even peel them, just used a food processor to puree them when they were cooked.

if you want to half the receipe, the do just that.

as far as mixing and matching apples. I guess you could, but I won't vouch for the end product! try it out and tell me how it tastes!

:)
I used water bath canning to can them when they were ready. You can put it in the jars hot, no problem.
it just makes the jars heat up faster when you put them in the water bath.

I made apple butter and canned it and gave them out for Christmas presents to my neighbors and friends. My next door neighbor ate a pint jar of it in a week and hinted that she wanted more when I got it.

we share her arden plot, so I make sure to keep her in apple butter. :)

[PyratePrincess]

Thanks for the answers! Looks like I'll be doing apple butter this weekend

[Davy Crockett]

Pyrate Princess, that sounds like a project for my daughter and me,too.

We try to do something most weekends.
We've made bread, homemade skillet cinnamon rolls and some other stuff.
With the apple butter, it might be a good idea to make some fresh bread