Homemade Apple Butter and Apple Sauce

Still Warm Apple Butter.

Last year the twins ran out of apple sauce so I thought since this has been a good year for the apple crop I would do an extra batch and I am wondering too if Emily and Katie like it or have outgrown the taste of the sweet treat???  I will have to check it out tomorrow when I pick them up from school.

Fresh Lemon

I love apple butter and always request it if we go to Cracker Barrel.  My brother Gary used to buy it for me at a festival they have over around Gosport, In. where he lives with his lovely wife Darla!  It was especially good and really had a pink hue to it.  I suspected they used red hots along with the other spices.  Sooooo I am going to experiment and start out with a whole 10 pounds of peeled and cored Golden Delicious apples adding 2 C. of sweet cider.  I juice 1 large lemon into an empty over sized crock and work the apples into it.

10# Golden Delicious Apples

I really like to do apple sauce or apple butter with this variety of apple as they cook down and almost just fall apart and I don't have to mess with a food mill.  Now the apples, cider, and lemon juice  have cooked down and are the correct consistency so I have tasted and added a pinch of salt,  a cup of sugar, 1/2 C. red hots and about a tablespoon of vanilla.  Just need to stir and simmer until all is dissolved,   It is just right!!

  I am going to fill the last 5, one cup freezer containers I have and seal them up.  I will tuck them away in my freezer until needed.

Cinnamon Candy Applesauce

To make the apple butter I am adding 1 1/2 C. sugar to the remaining apple pulp along with 1 T. cinnamon, 1/2 t. clove and 1/2 t. ginger and I will taste.  I turned the fire back on to simmer and continue to stir.  I added about another teaspoon of cinnamon and shook in a bit more clove and ginger and added a dash of nutmeg until it was just to my liking!!!

Apple Butter

To conclude I removed the hot jars from the oven where they have been holding.  They were packed to the head space with hot apple butter and the rims wiped with a clean damp cloth.   I tightened the lids and returned the jars to the oven for an additional 15 minutes at 250 degrees F.

 Next I removed the tray and left them to cool.  I hear them popping and sealing now as I write this posting.  It was a good day.   I have 5 jars of apple jelly,  6 jars of apple butter,  and 5 jars of applesauce to show for my effort.   There is nothing artificial in what I have prepared and I know when the cold wind blows it is going to be a welcome treat.