An Apple a Day

Now that it's fall and apples are in season, (at least in other parts of the country), I wanted to take advantage and try a few new apple recipes. I had a few leftover apples from another recipe so I thought I'd attempt making apple butter. I had no idea what apple butter was until I started browsing recipes on some of my favorite websites, and it looked really good. I was a little jealous to read about people actually picking apples from their own trees and then doing this.

I made this apple butter in the crock pot, using 4 lbs. of Granny Smith apples, and 1-1/2 cups each of white sugar and brown sugar, plus a couple good teaspoons of cinnamon and cloves. I also used my food processor to grate the apples before placing them in the slow cooker which made it a lot easier. Loosely following a recipe I found, I cooked the mixture on high for one hour, and then let it go 10 hours overnight, and then one hour uncovered in the morning. The original recipe called for another cup of sugar, but I couldn't imagine it being much sweeter. Not only are you adding several cups of sugar, but the natural apple sugar caramelizes during the cooking process. All in all, it turned out great! Excellent on any kind of breakfast bread: toast, english muffins, bagels, etc.

As you can see in the photo, I saved some of the apple butter in an airtight glass container and I also canned some in a mason jar for later use.