Apple Butter

Yes, I am still collecting my recipes from around the intertubes and re-posting them here. If you make it through the dense prose to the recipe you will find a quick version of apple butter. this is a great idea for a Christmas gift. You can make it overnight and gift it tomorrow. Just be sure to let your recipient know that it needs to be refrigerated unless you take the time to properly can it.

Today I was preparing for a weekend retreat.

I baked chocolate Chip Cookies, that necessitated cleaning out the baking supplies box since it avoided landing on my head by falling between the door and shelves in the worst possible way. Fortunately, everything is bagged so the chocolate chips didn’t erupt all over the floor. I used up the cucumbers by making a batch of gazpacho. I mixed up the red wine vinaigrette for tomorrow’s watermelon salad and I made a batch of plum sauce for the pulled pork from some fresh plums. The plum sauce isn’t as plummy as I would like. I had to make adjustments as it got too salty and it took me a while to discover that the plum vinegar was LOADED with salt. I am still babysitting a batch of apple butter. It seems that my too virtually identical small inexpensive crock pots are not all that identical. One gets hot enough that the apple butter finishes in a few hours. The other cooks at a nice even but sloooooow temperature. I keep putting the crock in the microwave to boost the temp. It is a crazy balancing act between cooking and burning. But I guess that is always the way it works with apple butter.

I’ll start with the apple butter recipe since it is simplest. Buy a jar of apple sauce that is approximately twice the volume of apple butter you want to end up with. It will reduce by at least half as you cook it. Pour it into your slow cooker and start cooking. If you have a low setting and lots of time, leave it over night. Otherwise, watch and stir every once in a while. Once it is reduced by about half, taste and add sugar if you choose. It isn’t really necessary but some people like things sweeter than others. Stir in some cinnamon to taste. Let it continue to cook until it is thick and at least a caramel brown. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

We usually have this on fresh bread and eat it up quickly. You can serve it over ice cream. I’m making this batch to serve with tomorrow’s pulled pork. We also really like to use it to make porkchop primavera. I know it sounds weird but it is truly worth a try. Even the spuds like this one!