Hot Holiday Recipe - Apple Butter and Apple Jelly

 

How about giving an edible gift this year?

Why not try out these two recipes for apple butter and apple jelly!

Apple Butter Recipe (Crock Pot)

Ingredients

• 8-9 Apples (use a mixture of types, try to stay away from the sour apples, like granny smith)
• 1 cup apple juice (or cider)
• 1 cup of brown sugar (loosely packed)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions 

First, get your crock pot ready to go. I used a 4 quart for this recipe. Peel the apples, core them and rough chop them. Toss the apples into the crock pot and turn it on high. Add 1 cup of apple juice and the sugar and spices. Stir to coat the apples. Cook on high for 1 hour with the lid on. Stir the apples again. Cook on low for 8-10 hours ( I typically have it cook overnight while I sleep). Stir the apples well, and remove the lid. Turn the crock pot back to high for about an hour, to reduce the apple butter to your desired consistency. Now you are ready to eat (or can).

If you are going to can your apple butter, the USDA states that the only safe method for canning is using the water bath method (or pressure canning method). Apples are an acidic food, so the water bath method works well. According to the USDA guidelines, you should process the pint sized jars of apple butter for 10 minutes. If you are in a high altitude region, please check the USDA website for proper time adjustments. (The chart is on page 6 of the PDF)

Here is a simple and easy apple jelly recipe that would make another great holiday gift!

Apple Jelly

Ingredients

• 6 cups of apple juice
• 4 cups of sugar
• 1 package of pectin

Directions

Pour apple juice into a heavy pot (a dutch oven pot works extremely well). Bring to a boil. Mix 1/3 cup of sugar with the pectin. Add mixture to pot, bring to a roiling boil (the kind you can't stir away). Add the remainder of the sugar and bring to a boil again. At this point your jelly is ready to can using the water bath method.

Thanks A Gluten Free Journey for the O.P.'s!