Simple Apple Butter

We were blessed (again!) by Neighbor and Mrs. M's generosity...

yesterday we came home with about two bushels of delicious tart apples

from their home orchard.

Apple season is almost over here...the apples will all be gone

by the end of next week, according to Neighbor M,

so we were delighted to be able to obtain a few more.

Now, our family loves tart apples with a little sweetness...

Neighbor and Mrs. M much prefer sweet apples.

It all works out...we do our part to take the tart ones "off their hands."

:D

Here is what we are doing with part of the apples today:

Simple Apple Butter

12 cups apples, peeled and cored

Place apples in crock pot and cook all night on LOW with the lid on.

Do NOT add any water--the apples will make enough liquid

as they cook to keep them from sticking or burning.

In the morning, add the following:

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. nutmeg

Leave the crockpot lid OFF and turn it on HIGH

and cook the mixture for 3 to 4 more hours

until it reaches a thick consistency--

however you like it.

Place in refrigerator or preserve however you wish.

We tried this recipe a couple of weeks ago and we loved it,

although I must admit we altered it quite a bit.

We used coriander and cardomom as spices,

stevia powder and a little honey for sweetening,

and The-Man added some pear pulp that he couldn't bear to throw away...

the pear pulp made it a little gritty, but it was still good

and we will enjoy it on our toast on cold winter mornings!

I do advise always following a recipe according to directions the first time...

from there you can experiment...but this recipe was really forgiving and delicious

and I think you will enjoy it.

By the way, the recipe came to us from Neighbor and Mrs. M...

they got it from another neighbor, who got it from their daughter...

and we don't know where she got it from...

so I don't know the original (but brilliant) source...

otherwise I'd be mighty happy to give credit where credit is due.

I'll edit this post tomorrow and add a photo of the finished product...

Enjoy!

Here's what the apple butter should look like
after adding spices and sweetner the next morning.

We have two crockpots, we pick them up for  $3-$4 at thrift sales,
and so we made two batches, yield was 3 pints per crockpot.