BARBARA’S APPLE BUTTER

I don’t have a “written down” recipe, as I make it “to taste”.  But here’s how I make my apple butter.

I try to mix my apples 1/2 sweet apple like Red Delicious and 1/2 tart like Granny Smith. Peel, core, slice, clean. Put the apples in a pot with a little water to prevent them from sticking (about a half inch in bottom of the pot ) and boil them down. Easier if you start the boiling process while peeling and just add a few handfuls at a time as they cook down. Once they’ve cooked down, run them through a sieve to get the chunks out and then you have unsweetened apple sauce.

I have a large pan that I put the “sauce” in. I add sugar, cinnamon, allspice and clove (amounts in that order-don’t want too much clove). Stir it up, put it in the oven at about 250 to 300 degrees and let it bake until it is brown and thick. Taste it after it starts to thicken up to see if you need more sugar or spices. It has to be stirred every 30 minutes to every hour (you’ll know how often to stir once it gets going-don’t want it to stick). Again, I do it to taste. I like it with lots of cinnamon and I like it very brown and thick. I bake it until there is no more water accumulating on top of the applebutter. After that, put it in jars, seal it and boil the jars for about 10 minutes.  You’ll never buy apple butter in the store again…..be warned though, you’ll need to clear your day.  The baking process can take about 6 hours….depending on how much water is in the apple sauce.