Yummy Spiced Apple Butter

It is finally Fall in Texas, which means the temperature has dropped to the low 80's, but I'll take it!  At the grocery store today I saw all the bags of apples on sale and my thoughts drifted back to my Grandmother's tasty apple butter.  I picked up a 3 pound bag of Red Delicious and a 3 pound bag of Empire apples and then 2 pounds of Honeycrisp apples. 

Now keep in mind, I have never made apple butter before, but we've been apple picking and berry picking and have canned more than a few jars of jelly, so I wasn't really intimidated by the process.  These days there is that secret weapon called Pinterest where you can learn all things crafty!  I quickly found a recipe for Spiced Apple Butter with great reviews and went to work on the apples.

It was a breeze, quarter the apples and toss them in a large stock pot seeds, peels and all, along with a little apple cider. When that was cooked down we then pressed the apple goodness through the foodmill. This makes easy removal of the peels and seed, plus all of the natural pectin is preserved in the apples.  

At this point you have applesauce. To transform it into apple butter you add the sugar and spice and cook it down, stirring constantly for about an hour and a half.  I was very happy to have helpers to take turns in the stirring process!  

It is good to recognize that apple butter is 1/2 cup pure sugar to every 1 cup of apple sauce and then you cook down the apple sauce by 50%.  So it is really apple sugar!  The kids were amused that apple butter contains no butter.  

We finished up with eleven pints of apple butter, and processed them in a water bath to seal the jars.  It was a simple process, not too time consuming.  The constant stirring for the hour and a half was probably the most tedious portion. 

Keep me as the apple of your eye; 

hide me in the shadow of your wings

Psalm 17:8