6 1/2-7 lbs apples, cored and quartered
4 cups apple cider or apple juice (try to use the cloudy, not from concentrate juice)**
2-3 cinnamon sticks and or 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 cup white sugar
1 cup real maple syrup
Place apples and juice in a very large pot. Add cinnamon sticks. Place on stove and bring to a boil. Decrease heat and simmer, covered for 1/2 hour, until apples are tender. Remove cinnamon sticks. Run apple mixture through a food mill or strainer to remove peels. Return mixture to pot (you should have around 12-14 cups of applesauce) Add sugar, maple syrup, allspice, and ground cinnamon if you didn't use cinnamon sticks. Return sauce to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered for 2-3 hours, until mixture is very thick and mounds on a spoon. Stir frequently. (alternatively, you can put the apple sauce mixture in your crock pot, set to LOW and let it simmer overnight.)
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| This is my food mill set up. One of the best wedding gifts I received! |
Ladle into sterile jars, add lids and rings, and process in boiling water for five minutes.
I filled 6-250 ml* jars and one 500 ml jar around 2/3 full. (that one was not put in the canner, and was set on the counter to cool for immediate consumption.)
*Yes, my recipe uses imperial mesurements to fill metric jars. That's what happens when you live in Canada sometimes.
**The next time I make this I will probably reduce the apple juice by half as I had very watery sauce that took until suppertime to cook down.
***If you are new to canning, you can freeze this apple butter in containers for future use, or check out this website to get more information. I used a combination of my grandmother and a book they published to teach myself how to preserve food 9 years ago and haven't looked back. (I also really love their slogan: "Because you can!")
***In case you don't read the comments, my friend Carolyn (and giver of the apples I used in this recipe) offered these helpful tips: When using the crockpot, you should prop the lid open using a wooden spoon or something. It takes about 12-14 hours that way. A 500 ml jar is about a pint (2 cups).
I swirled a spoonful of this butter into my oatmeal this morning with a dollop of vanilla-flavoured greek yogurt and had one of the best breakfasts I have had in a very long time.
