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Spiced Apple Butter

Ingredients

To cook down the apples

  • 4 lbs Cooking apples I used Granny Smith, Gala, Golden Delicious combo
  • 1 cup Apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cups Water

For the apple butter

  • 2 - 2 1/2 cups Granulated sugar*
  • 1/8 teaspoons Salt
  • 1 heaping tablespoon Ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon Grated nutmeg
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 6-8 8- ounce canning jars

Instructions

Cook down the apples:

  • Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them, cutting out all the damanged parts. We need that precious pection and its in the peel and apple cores. Add the apples to a large pot. Add vinegar and water. Cover the pot and over medium/high heat bring to a boil. Once the liquid has boiled, reduce the heat to medium/low and cook the apples until soft. This will take about 20 minutes or so.
  • Remove from heat. Allow your cooked apples to cool for 5 minutes or so and either using a food mill or a large strainer, force the pulp into a large bowl. If you're using a strainer this can take about 10-15 minutes of arm work. Get it in.
  • Measure out the puree. You should be left with anywhere from 5-6 cups of puree. Add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar for every cup of puree and stir to combine. *Depending on the sweetness of the apples I stop at around 2 cups of sugar, but it's really up to you. Taste as you go - And if you feel you ought to add more sugar, go for yours.

Make apple butter, homies:

  • To the apple puree, add the salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and lemon juice with zest. Cook in a large thick bottomed pot over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the apple butter from burning. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir, because the sugar caramelizes in the bottom and there's crust situation. Cook until the puree has thickened, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. The resulting apple butter situation should be thick and not runny.
  • Once cooked, ladle the apple butter into glass jars and seal. Allow the apple butter to come to room temperature then store in the refrigerator. Apple butter will last over a month in the fridge.