Apple butter
6 servings
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | pounds | Of apples (I've used golden delicious, granny smith, pippin, arkansa black, jonathan and macintosh, they all work well) |
| 1 | quart | Apple cider (Try to use the real stuff that hasn't been clarified) |
| 1 | cup | Brown sugar |
| 1 | cup | White sugar |
| 1 | teaspoon | Cinnamon |
| ½ | teaspoon | Allspice |
| ¼ | teaspoon | Ground cloves |
| A good book to read... | ||
This takes about 3-5 HOURS to do. Have a day set aside.
1) Peel, core and chop the apples and dump into a fairly huge pot.
Pour in the cider and cook at medium heat about 45 minutes or until the apples get fall-apart tender. Go at them with a potato masher until you have a pretty uniform texture.
2) Add the sugars and the spices and stir in. Bring to a simmer and cook for several hours, stirring every now and again to keep the stuff on the bottom from burning. You want to cook until it is really thick. You'll find that as it cooks, the liquid rises to the surface and it LOOKS runny. Don't be fooled, stir the liquid back in before you judge it ready for canning. 3) Can in your sterilized jars. Depending on how juicy the apples were and how long you cooked the mash, you'll have anywhere from a quart to a quart and a half of apple butter. If you feel disquieted about not processing this mess, go right ahead. Apple butter, unlike jams, doesn't lose as much flavor in processing. It should keep for about a year.
4) Get the kids and dole out the gooey, rubbery gunk that has stuck to the sides of the pan during cooking. It tastes great and they'll love it.
5) Once cool, label (with the date).