Need a good recipe for Apple Butter please

[mayfinnfarm]

Okay, I have lots of apples that I want to make apple butter with. I really don't know the first thing about how to make it, and all the recipes online say something different. Anyone have a tried and true good recipe?
Thanks a million!

[johno]

My wife and sister-in-law made 7+ gallons earlier this summer. It turned out great - we've gone through a 1/2 gallon already, (but now I think we've had our fill for a little while.) I'll ask wifey about the recipe when she gets home...

[bluelacedredhead]

I was at a Fair today and the theme of the HomeCraft Bldg was Apples. There were apple cakes, paper mache apples in the junior craft section, apple quilts and apple wreaths, but no where could I find a recipe for Apple Butter, or even a jar of Apple Butter?? I was thinking of your request MayFinn, but the goods just weren't there.

[mayfinnfarm]

Awww..thanks so much for thinking of me! Yall are great! I did make a very small batch today, using bits of several recipes I found online. It turned out okay, but more applesauce-y than I remember mom making when I was a kid. I've got enough apples to keep tryin though

[bunkie]

mayfinnfarm, here's 44 more apple butter recipes! ;D

www.justslowcooking.com/inxapb.html

i'm going to try and make some this year too for the first time. aooles will be ready very soon. will let you know which one i like.

also was reading on a preserving forum about pear butter. they were saying it's even better than apple...so guess i'll be trying that too!

[peapod]

I know this is an older thread... BUT...

I made pear butter for the first time this year. And yes to me its so much better than apple butter. Its so yummy. My daughter who still loves me after a heck of a canning month... may acutally think it was worth it.

She is 3 and wants it on everything. Its smoother and just simply sweeter. I used D'janu (SP) and Bartlett(we have acess to these varieties for free)

I didnt add any nutmeg it was to strong for the pears.

[Emerald]

___My favorite recipe for using the large oval crock pot is for making apple butter. Apple butter takes so long to make and is hard to keep from scorching that I only made it once in a while, but with the crock pot on high it doesn't even scorch at all.
___I just peel and core enuf apples to fit into the crock pot, using about 1 to 2 cups of apple cider or even cranberry juice(only the 100% juice one no HFCS for me) let it cook down for a couple of hours and then I start adding a few more cored and peeled apples. It usually uses up about 30 big apples maybe more- I am one of those kinda cooks-- I just keep adding apples that first day until it is full by the end of the first day.
___I do try to go and give it a bit of a stir every hour or so to keep things moving and once you have things all mushy and cooked down I put a large wooden spoon across the top of the crock pot and then put on the lid- that way the water will cook out-- Now I keep adding apples and cooking down for almost one whole day, then that evening I put the crock pot on either warm or low and let it cook down all night- by the next day you are almost done- I just keep it on high when I am awake and can stir it, usually it only takes about 2 days to cook the apples down to the right point, once they are almost dry enuf (to test you put a dollop of apple butter on a cold plate, wait a bit and then tip the plate if there is clear/cider looking liquid around the brown butter it is not quite done yet, you want to have only butter and no liquid) I taste and add just a bit of brown sugar to sweeten, and I add cinnamon, a touch of clove and just a bit of fresh grated nutmeg, now hot apple butter will taste sweeter than it is so if you make it just a bit sweeter than you like it will turn out just right, Trust me on that one- I had to go and re sweeten a small batch one year.
___ To can it I put it in the 8oz jars, hot and then process it in a water bath, once the water starts boiling I set the timer to 1/2 hour, let cool and then label and store and eat!
__ There is an old way of making it where you don't peel or core and the you have to run the hot apple butter thru a strainer once all the apples are in the batch and are soft- I know that you might be getting more vitamins from the peels but I am clumsy and tend to spill on my self a bit and hot apple butter really sticks and burns ya worse. But if you make it that way and are safer than myself in the kitchen by all means do it that way
__Also you will notice that there is a stage that resembles apple sauce-- well if you stop at that stage and add your spices and a bit of sugar, It is apple sauce- I can it the same way in the little 8 oz jars as then my hubby can just grab one and take it to work with him and one little jar is just right for us for dinner time too.
__This recipe was the one that I posted before and that I have in my recipe "box" on the computer so that I can just copy paste instead of redoing the whole thing again. So if some of ya think that you have seen it before-you have! ;D

[grungy]

Awesome! Thanks.