Apple Butter and How to Can!

I'm SO excited to bring this recipe to you guys!! There are so many kitchen things I've gotten to experiment with lately, and I have been having a lot of fun. My most recent attempt was making apple butter and  canning it!

The original recipe comes from SkinnyTaste, a website I've found tons of great recipes on. I have made the apple butter recipe before, but cut it in half because I didn't want gallons of the stuff and had really no way to gauge how much it would make. (The fact that the recipe says it makes 16 2Tb. sized servings pretty much meant nothing to me. See? I'm super cooking-saavy.)

Anyway, I tried it again, making the full recipe, with some left-over 8 oz. jars from my Mom. I had 6 jars at my disposal and only ended up using 4. I want to make this for holiday baskets, so I'll probably buy some of the smaller 4 oz. ones so I can make more from this recipe.

I'll add my instructions for canning at the end.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
from SkinnyTaste

6 apples (I used in-season gala)
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Chop up apples into small pieces. Place into slow cooker. Top with remaining ingrediants and stir well. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours. Uncover and puree with an immersion blender. Cook uncovered on high for 1-2 hours.

*Right after the apples went into the crock-pot*

*After a many hours in the crock-pot. No noticeable difference, really*

*Breaking out the immersion blender--don't look at my messy crock-pot!!*

Canning

from Food Network Magazine

1. Wash jars, lids, and bands in hot soapy water. Place the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, simmer jars until you need them.

2. Place lids and bands into simmering (not boiling!) water until you need them.

3. Remove jar one-by-one from simmering water and fill with hot preserves/jelly/butter/etc. Leave headspace on each jar.

4. Use a clean small spatula (I used a spatula handle) to go along the inside of the jar to release any air pockets.

5. Wipe rims and threads and make sure they are clean.

6. Remove lids and bands from the simmering water and place on top of filled jars. Screw tops onto jars until tight.

7. Place filled jars back into boiling water. Make sure water is 2 inches above tops of jars. Once boiling, cover pot and boil for 15 minutes.

8. After 15 minutes, lift jars from hot water and transfer to a kitchen towel. Let sit for 24 hours to ensure seal forms.

9. Check the seal--make sure the lids do not pop! Store unopened jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year. Refrigerate after opening.

**Jars boiling!**

**Lids and bands simmering**

**Preparing to boil the finished jars**

**All finished and ready to go in the cabinet!!**