Thursday, September 24, 2020

What is apple butter? Is it butter? No, not at all!

The finished product:

It is more like an overcooked applesauce or apple jam. It is delicious on bread or biscuits and maybe even pancakes or waffles? It would make a great gift in a cute little mason jar.

My first memory of apple butter is from my Girl Scout troop. Our leader had us come to her house to make it when I was maybe 10? I sure hope I got a badge!

This time, I didn’t get a badge but I was sure proud of myself and my house smelled amazing all day long while I was toiling away behind my computer for my virtual teaching. I have now made it twice; I tried it again this week on Monday while I was working.

I used all honeycrisp the first time and did not take the peel off.

The second time I used a mixture of honeycrisp and fuji and did take the skin off. It takes a lot of apples to make a small amount of apple butter. I halved the recipe and used about 7 apples and only produced about a cup of apple butter!

Here is the recipe:

In your crockpot,

put 5 lbs. apple of your choice, chopped

1 and 1/2 c. brown sugar

1 and 1/2 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Cook for 10 hours on low or 4 hours on high

I stirred several times and mine did not take nearly 10 hours on low. I would say it was ready in more like 4-6 hours. Also, I used a liner and I felt like the liner did not hold up to this liquid. I will do it without the liner next time.

Allow to cool. Will last for 2 weeks in fridge.

This is about halfway through. I stirred often and kind of mashed it up when it was close to done.

Have you ever made your own apple butter?

Amy