When Life Gives You Apples

Saturday morning I went grocery shopping and Shaws was having a super sale, so I bought lots of stuff to restock my freezer. As I was attempting to fit my haul into my freezer back at home, I found a container of apple butter I'd made last year and forgotten about. I defrosted it and enjoyed it on an english muffin with peanut butter. Holy yum. I forgot how much I love apple butter. 

Fast forward to the next day when I went apple picking.

We enjoyed some delicious hot cider donuts.

why are these donuts so small! I wanted to eat a million of therm

Wandered through the orchard picking the most perfect apples.

And got a little silly.

I had a nice big bag of apples and thought I was all done. Until I saw this beauty. A huge box of drops for just $10. I thought to myself "I could make so much apple butter," and lugged the box to the car.

My giant box has been banished to the garage because the puppy kept trying to eat the apples when it was in the kitchen

I didn't realize exactly how many apples it was. I've made 3 batches of apple butter, 2 apple crisps, and a big container of curried apple chicken salad. I still have so many apples!!

Everyone I know will be getting some apple butter. Luckily, apple butter is about the easiest thing ever to make. Here's what I do:

Cut up 12-16 medium apples leaving the skin on (basically just fill the crockpot). Add 1-2 cups of cider, apple juice, or when you run out of those, water.

Leave the crockpot on high for 6-8 to do its thing. You should end up with very, very soft apple mush. 

Put the mush in the food processor and blend until it is smooth and creamy. Then add sugar and spices. I like to keep mine low sugar, so I only add about a cup of sugar. I ran out of white sugar so I used brown sugar in my last batch and it came out just fine. I also usually toss in a teaspoon of cinnamon, allspice, and ginger, but use whatever spices you like. 

Now pour the apple butter back into the crockpot. I like thicker apple butter so I cook mine for 1-2 hours on high with the lid off. This allows a lot of liquid to evaporate, so it thickens up considerably. if you like a more liquid consistency, leave the lid on.

Then folks, you've got apple butter! Can it if you want, but I am always afraid of giving my loved ones botulism, so I stick to freezing the stuff I won't be using immediately.

batches 1 and 2, plus 2 more big containers in the freezer.

What's your favorite fall apple treat?