It's Apple Time!

This past weekend we went to Apple Valley Orchard here in Cleveland and picked up a bushel of Red Delicious Apples, a 1/2 bushel of Mutsu Apples, 1/4 peck of Red/Golden Mixed, and 1/4 of Winesap....so we have a lot of baking to do! Actually we are going to try making apple juice and cider this year also. Yesterday I went to find my Crockpot Apple Butter recipe and couldn't find it anywhere!! So I started searching the internet and still couldn't find the same one I used last year but found one that I knew was similar so I went to peeling, coring, and slicing...with the Pampered Chef Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer of course (makes it so much easier!!) And if you can pick one up at a thrift store or yard sale like I did for $5.00, then why not save yourself some time and make life a little easier!! : )

So a dear friend finally found my recipe last night and the one that I ended up using was very similar but called for 2 cups LESS of sugar! I like the thought of that...and it tasted delicious! One hint: use apples that are sweeter, not real tart apples and you will not have to use as much sugar! This recipe yielded 4 pint jars for me. I really prefer to put it in 1/2 pint jars so that I can give out to friends, but all I had were pint jars right now. Oh, and another hint: I did NOT put the butter into a food processor to make it smooth. My was already pretty smooth when it cooked down, but we kind of like the bits of apple chunks in it. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

apples, peeled, cored and cut in quarters, to fill a 4-quart crockpot to 1 1/2 to 2 inches from top

4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups sugar

4 tablespoons water

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH until hot, then turn to LOW and cook all day (7 to 10 hours). When it is done and apples are fully cooked down put small amounts into food processor and pulse until smooth.

NOTE: If you are canning this, put into clean, sterilized jars and seal while hot, then process half-pints or pints 5 minutes in boiling water canner. 1,001 feet to 6,000 feet, process for 10 minutes, and above 6,000 feet, 15 minutes.