Live Simply with Sparkle: Butter Me up...with Apples

Most children love cake. I wasn't like most children.

I'm not saying that I don't like cake. I do. I like cake just fine. Especially if that cake is made by my mom...but nothing...I mean NOTHING compared to my love of the apple.

When my birthday came around, I didn't want cake. I wanted apple pie. And not just any apple pie, my mom's apple pie. I love apple pie, because I love apples. Raw, baked, sauced...it doesn't matter, I love 'em!

So to continue my trend of preserving food for the winter, today I made apple butter. Creamy, smooth, lovely apple butter. It's like I warm hug from your mom. No, really...it is. If not your mom, then it's a warm hug from me.

Crockpot Apple Butter
recipe from Simple Canning
http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-apple-butter.html
This is a great site...tasty and simple recipes for canning. Love it!

Ingredients

apples -peeled and sliced thinly...prepare enough to fill your crock pot very full.

1 -2 cups sugar (to taste) I used 1 1/2 cups :0)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1. Fill your crockpot with sliced apples.

2. In a bowl mix sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour this mixture over the apples.

3. Cover and cook approximately 10 hours. Stir occasionally.

Tip: Start these in the evening. Cook on high for an hour just before going to bed. Turn down to low and give them a good stir. In the morning whisk them up. (This is a great tip! It worked perfectly.)

4. As the apples cook you will be able to go from stirring with a spoon to a whisk. They will whisk up nice and smooth.

5.Cook, cook, and cook. The color will get darker and your house will smell AMAZING!

This is after 10 hours.

6. You can leave the lid off for the last hour or two to get a thicker consistency. Fill your sterilized and prepared jars (refer to the National Center for Home Preservation if needed) leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Wipe the rims clean, remove any air bubbles and place your lids.

7. Process to seal.

Processing:

If this is your first time canning, please read up on the process at the The National Center for Home Food Preservation website. http://nchfp.uga.edu/
FYI- I process half-pint and pint jars for 10 minutes.