A is for Apple

School starts on Monday for my children, and Wednesday for myself, and so this last weekend is a whirlwind of activity as I try to fit in some last minute projects.  One that could not wait was my annual apple butter making.  I bought the 20lb box of Gravenstein apples last week and knew that if I didn’t get them peeled and prepped soon they would be too soft to use my apple-peeler-corer with and I would be doomed to another year of doing it by hand.  Thankfully we caught them just in time and I set my two kitchen helpers to work!  Thank goodness for having two of these handy-dandy gadgets.  I was actually able to just let them at it this year, with only occaisionally helping with a stubborn core here and there.

They prepped those apples for me yesterday and as we had to run some errands I popped them in the fridge to deal with later.  Usually I freeze them to do my canning in October, but last year October was more busy than I had anticipated and we ended up with no homemade apple butter at all.  It was a very long year.

This year I decided to just get the canning done now.  So grabbing my prepped apples out of the fridge today, I began cooking them up with the cider, spices, and sugar.  The smell is just heavenly, but was a little odd in August, as it is usually a Fall tradition for me.  My son came in from playing soccer at the park and ran into the kitchen, his nose practically in the pot. “Mmmm…. what’s that smell?  I want to eat apple butter right now!”  He didn’t get to eat it right then, but at least I know we’re set for the year!

Here is the recipe I have been using from epicurious.com: Sweet & Chunky Apple Butter 

Typically I follow it fairly closely but probably don’t add quite as much sugar as they call for ( I either half or reduce by 25%).  I typically double their recipe.

 

 

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