Apple Butter

Whenever Michael and I go apple picking, I know fall is here! Fall is probably my favorite season of the year. I enjoy the changing weather, and the change in pace of life too!

Michael told me that he LOVES to eat Apple Butter with Cottage Cheese. Well for starters, I've never had apple butter and I also don't like cottage cheese, but don't think I won't at least try it before I knock it :)

I got my recipe from a website after looking through different options, I went with this one because 1) it seemed pretty easy 2) it had a canning option and 3) it doesn't have a ton of extra sugar in it compared to others I found. I like that it's basically just apples and spices cooked down for hours.

I started with 14 apples from Sky Top Orchard. I washed them all and then cored and quartered them leaving the skins on . I put them in my biggest pot I could find with 4 cups of apple cider.

I let that cook down for about 35 minutes until the apples were really easy to mush.
It was recommended to use a food mill, but I don't have one of those so I used my handy dandy food processor.
I processed it until it was almost like apple juice and then put that juice through a sieve just to make sure I caught any thick skins that didn't break down.
I measured 9 1/2 cups of the processed mixture and put that back in the pot.
2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of allspice and 1/4 teaspoon of clove later..

Mixed it all up and let it simmer uncovered for about an hour and a half until it was a think applesauce consistency.
What did I do with the remainder mixture and leftover thick skins? I'm glad you asked! I put it in a large bowl and put in the fridge to enjoy homemade applesauce later on this week!
Last but not least, I canned the mixture. All in all, it took a few hours, but the work was worth it! I now have enough apple butter to last me until next Fall :) 8 half pint jars. Now that's a good day.