Apple Butter in the Crockpot!
For the last few years, one of our Fall traditions is making Apple Butter... we eat it all year long on bagels, toast, and biscuits. This weekend we went apple picking and headed right home to cook! Want to hear how I make it?
First, make apple sauce (your favorite way). I core and cut up my apples, leave the peel on and cook over a low heat.
When it's time to "sauce" it I use a food mill held over my crock pot and keep grinding until it's full! The extra sauce goes into a glass bowl in the fridge to be eaten with granola : )!
Then, add about a cup of fresh apple cider and at least 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Stir and put the lid on. Then cook on the lowest setting for at least 10 hours. It's important to add the cider as this will keep it from getting too thick and burning. Right before it's done I take the lid off and let it evaporate off any extra liquid (normally 10 or 15 minutes). I know some people add sweetener, but I find the sweetness of the apples to be enough!
And because I just couldn't stop cooking with apples, we also made Maya's Grandma's Apple Cake... mmmmmm! What did you do (or eat?) this weekend?
When it's time to "sauce" it I use a food mill held over my crock pot and keep grinding until it's full! The extra sauce goes into a glass bowl in the fridge to be eaten with granola : )!
Then, add about a cup of fresh apple cider and at least 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Stir and put the lid on. Then cook on the lowest setting for at least 10 hours. It's important to add the cider as this will keep it from getting too thick and burning. Right before it's done I take the lid off and let it evaporate off any extra liquid (normally 10 or 15 minutes). I know some people add sweetener, but I find the sweetness of the apples to be enough!
Apple Butter... it's that easy!
And because I just couldn't stop cooking with apples, we also made Maya's Grandma's Apple Cake... mmmmmm! What did you do (or eat?) this weekend?
I worked on Skywalker.....
ReplyDeleteSo funny that you wrote this blog post today - my fiance and I went and picked 60 lbs of apples for making apple butter, apple sauce, and apple pie filling (gifts for people at Christmas)
ReplyDeleteRight now the butter is in the crockpot - cooking down. We like ours very thick, so we leave out the cider and reduce it down by half.
The whole house smells of apple butter and the spices my fiance puts in them. Such a nice smell!
Great minds, right Jenn? Enjoy!!!!
DeleteThanks for the how-to, Laura! Yummy. Last weekend, I filled my belly with Pho, Vietnamese soup noodles.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, Pho, I just heard about a local restaurant that is supposed to make a killer Pho, can't wait to go there!
DeleteWe made apple chutney this weekend! It's sort of my own recipe, apples and onion and raisins and cloves and mustard seed and all kinds of spices.
ReplyDeleteIt's really awesome on pork chops, with cheddar cheese and rustic bread. I need to make tons of it because we eat it on everything!
Oh my... that sounds good! Can you share a recipe? Maybe we should have a apple condiment blog tour!
DeleteKeeping with the apple theme I made Haroset. Which you probably know as a Passover dish, but I like to make it when the apples are in season. I chop everything by hand so it turns out looking like an apple walnut salad with a Cabernet color,
ReplyDeleteOh, Haroset is a great idea!!!! I adore it!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHa! We made apple butter the weekend before last. I got one of those handcranked peelers for the holidays last year and churned through 2 pecks of apples in no time flat. I use a slow cooker too, but my technique is just to fill it with peeled cored apples and a little water or cider, refill with more apples when the first batch is getting saucy, and letting the whole thing go for 12-24 hours. This year I threw in a knob of ginger, maple syrup, cinnamon, and a little lemon juice. So yummy, so easy!
ReplyDelete