In case you haven’t caught it yet.. I love fall! I plan more activities during September- December, than any other time of the year.
So, of course a trip to Windy Hill Apple Orchard was necessary. I wish it would of been a brisk 60 degrees when we went, but we made the best of it and it was still fun!
We picked apples, ate fresh donuts right out of the deep fryer ( don’t judge) they were so yummy, we ate them way too fast! We drank apple cider , apple cider slushies and did a flight of 6 different new hard apple ciders they make there.. oh did I mention apple hand pies and home made pork rinds( my hubby’s fav) and caramel apples?!
With all the apples we picked, I had to go work on them. I have always wanted to make apple butter. I buy it every year and always say I want to make it instead of paying $8.00 a jar! When I studied it and realized it’s super easy.. there was no turning back. I made it in the crock pot too..so all I had to do was prep it, and walk away from it for 8 hours, come back and puree and EAT! It turned out so yummy! If your wondering what to use it for,I personally enjoy it on toast and scones. You can make peanut and butter sandwiches with it for the kids and spread it on pumpkin bread, and eat on pancakes. Use your imagination, it’s also great for gift giving. I do believe this is something I will be making every year along with my other fall favorites. So go ahead.. Do something g different with apples, you will see how easy it is and you will be a new fan of apple butter on very thing!!
Harvest Apple Butter
6-7 pounds of apples of mixed varieties. ( I used what we picked a the orchard which was Stayman Winesap apples)
2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp salt
1.Peel, core and slice apple and put in your crock pot. Mix in the sugar and spices until well combined.
2.On low, cook for 8 hours, mixing and mashing with a potato masher every couple hours.
3.When 8 hours is over, take out out of crock pot and puree in small batches at a time in a food processor. This makes it nice and smooth and it should be consistency of butter.
4. Store in jelly jars and refrigerate.I have read where some people freeze it as well. It won’t last that long for us! 🙂
It made 7 pint size jars for me.