Apple Butter

There is nothing more delightful than having a pantry stocked with homemade preserves and canned goods. The fall is the busiest time of the year for putting up the harvest but occasionally we get lucky and run across a chance to catch up. This past fall, I was fighting morning sickness so I did not get to do a batch of apple butter like I wanted. My Dad ran across a guy from West Virginia that still had bushel boxes of apples in his cold storage on his farm though, and for Christmas got me a box.

Since I did not have a chance to do the Apple Butter over my Holiday break, I decided to tackle that yesterday during the snow day as well. I am so glad I did. I now have 12 pints of beautiful light brown apple butter on my counter with their shining silver tops as well as a quart jar in the refridgerator that Stephen and I have already started working on! I am enjoying some with shortbread cookies and coffee at this very moment.

How perfect of a morning can you get? Sun is shining, ice is glittering, a tempting treat, hot coffee, hair in rollers...oh yea. That means i have to go to work in a few. Okay, so semi perfect morning!

Apple Butter
Lots of apples, peeled, cored and cooked in 1 part water to 2 parts apples (fill the pot with apples and fill with water halfway) until mushy. Strain through a small wire strainer reducing water as much as possible. Whirl apple puree in a blender or food processor (my new NINJA worked great for this) until a nice babyfood consistency. Return to stock pot and for every 8 cups add:

1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar

Bring to a high simmer over medium heat (lightly bubbly) and cook for about 10 minutes stirring often to prevent cooking to much on the bottom. Pour into hot sterilized canning jars. Wipe rims, place on lids. Place jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Then flip them upside down on a clean towel to cool. when jars are still hot but you are able to pick them up, flip them over. As they cool further the lids will seal (you will hear the pop).

Perfectly canned Apple Butter. (Just add the white sugar and you can do applesauce the same way).