apple butter | I Choose Joy!

Canning Crock-Pot Apple Butter- A Tutorial

September 29, 2012 By genamayo 2 Comments

**Jars of this delicious homemade Apple Butter would make an awesome Christmas gift!

Are you ready to make some yummy apple butter? My husband LOVES it, so I’ve been making lots every fall for the past few years. Here’s the recipe:

Crock-Pot Apple Butter

20 apples, cored and cut into pieces (keep skins on)
2 cups apple cider (or substitute apple juice or water)
3 cups sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves

Put apples and cider into crock-pot on low for 10 hours. (I do it overnight.)
In the morning, barely puree in a blender–don’t liquify! Add it back to the crock-pot and put in the sugar and spices. Cook on low for 1 more hour.

Now you can simply put it in the refrigerator (it will keep for several weeks). Or put in freezer containers to freeze. Or can it; process 10 minutes. It makes about 5 pint-sized jars (10 of the 8-ounce jelly jars).

Tutorial:

1. Wash, core, and cut up apples. Put in large crock-pot with 2 cups of cider, juice, or water.

2. Cook on low 10 hours overnight.

3. Puree in a blender.

4. Put back in to the crock-pot with sugar and spices. Cook on low one more hour. Wash jars and rings in dishwasher–use heat dry so they will stay hot until ready to fill. Get canning pot ready. Start water to boil about 20 minutes before the apple butter will be done.

5. Preheat oven to 200 or 250 degrees to keep jars hot. Boil water in a pot. Place the new lids in the pot, turn off the heat, and cover with a lid.

6. Fill jars with apple butter leaving about 1/2 to 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe tops with a paper towel. Put lids and rings on. Place back in oven until ready to put all jars into the pot. (Using the right tools makes canning so much easier! See below for my suggestions.)

7. Place jars on rack in water-bath canning pot. Lower rack; cover and boil for 10 minutes. (Make sure there’s about an inch of water above jars after lowering.)

8. Remove jars from pot and place on a towel to cool. Check later to see if the jar sealed by pressing on the lid. If it pops back up, put in the refrigerator and use first.

See these links for helpful canning equipment from amazon.com.

This one includes the pot.

Pretty in green.

I have this one.

I also have a ladle and apple slicer.

**Have fun making apple butter and let me know if you make some!

Linked to The Common Room, Life in a Shoe, Smockity Frocks, and Raising Olives.

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Filed Under: Recipes, Tutorials Tagged With: apple butter, crock-pot, recipes, tutorial

Apple Picking 2012

September 14, 2012 By genamayo Leave a Comment

**6-Week Fitness Challenge is coming Monday October 1!

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Last Sunday we made our annual pilgrimage to the apple orchard!

And we got some cute ones of our new 3-month-old!

Now to make some apple butter!

Linked up at

Filed Under: Family Time Tagged With: apple butter, Apple picking, apples

Our Week in Review–Cruises, Apple Butter, and Birthdays

October 10, 2011 By genamayo 1 Comment

We had an interesting beginning of the week last week!
On Sunday we watched a video on YouTube of a short film called Pilot’s Plight that my husband acted in! It was written and filmed by a 14-year-old aspiring film-maker in our church. Here’s the link. (It’s PG or PG-13; watch it without the kids first.)

Then on Tuesday my brother-in-law emailed us and said he heard our names on the radio. We had entered a contest for the Love Like You Mean It marriage cruise being put on by Family Life Ministries and sponsored by Moody Radio. I had encouraged my husband to write out the story of how he proposed to me. I then had to edit it down to 500 words. And we were one of the finalists! Unfortunately, we didn’t win the cruise. I hope we can go on one someday, though. Today is our 13th anniversary and starting tomorrow I’ll share our proposal story!

My blog was chosen as one of the Top 25 Big Family Blogs on the Circle of Moms website. They will be featuring I Choose Joy! in the next month. Thank you so much to all of you who voted!

Back on the homestead, we had a productive week of school. The kids did a fun project after studying about the Israelite slaves in Egypt who had to make bricks and collect their own straw. I cooked up some play-dough on the stove. Then the kids (except for the 10 yo ) formed them into bricks and put grass in them! They let them dry and then used them to build a building and tower.

This play-dough recipe worked great: 2 c. flour, 2 c. warm water, 1 c. salt, 2 T. vegetable oil, 1 T. cream of Tartar. Stir in in a pot over medium to medium high heat until it no longer sticks to the pan.

After our apple-picking adventure last week, I made some apple butter. Core and cut the apples–about 15 per crock pot. (I don’t peel them.) Add 2 cups of apple cider and cook on low overnight in the crock-pot for 10 hours. In the morning, puree in a blender (don’t liquify!) and put back in the crock-pot. Add 3 cups of sugar, 2 t. of cinnamon, and 1/2 t. ground cloves. Cook on low for 1 more hour. Then put in fridge, freeze, or process for 10 minutes.

Finally, we had a family birthday party for my new five-year-old!

Filed Under: Family Time, Homeschooling Time, Our Week in Review Tagged With: apple butter, birthday, Pilot's Plight

Apple Butter–made in your crock-pot!

October 7, 2009 By genamayo Leave a Comment

**Something exciting is coming Monday September 17!

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A couple of weeks ago we picked about 80 apples! My husband said he wanted lot of apple butter this year! Here is the recipe that I’ve been using. I tweaked it a bit from last year and am happier with the thicker consistency.

Crock-Pot Apple Butter

15 apples, cored and cut into pieces (keep skins on)
2 cups apple cider (or substitute apple juice or water)
3 cups sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves

Put apples and cider into crock-pot on low for 10 hours. (I do it overnight.)
In the morning, barely puree–don’t liquify! Add it back to the crock-pot and put in the sugar and spices. Cook on low for 1 more hour.

Now you can simply put it in the refrigerator (it will keep for several weeks). Or put in freezer containers to freeze. Or can it; process 10 minutes.