I'm not going to lie about it, I'M CHEAP!
Maybe I should say...frugal, instead.
Truth is, with five kids, the holidays are a huge financial crunch time for us. I try to lighten the load by making homemade/handmade gifts for our friends and family. One of the gifts I'm making this year is apple butter.
I ate tons of this stuff as a kid and I always loved it!
It truly couldn't be easier to make.
You start by peeling, coring, and chopping 12 pounds of apples.
I used a variety of Gala, Fuji, and Granny Smith apples.
This is a great activity for the kids to help out with.
The older boys have good knife skills
and little Mary Grace helped with the spices:
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of white sugar
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons allspice
Just a splash of apple cider vinegar
Mix ingredients well into a large crock pot and cook on high for 8-10 hours. Blend until smooth with immersion blender, or by hand if you like a chunky apple butter. Fill sterile jars and process.
Your house is going to smell AMAZING!
This recipe makes 12 half pints,
which is the perfect size for gift giving.
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| From left to right: Apple Butter, Candied Jalapenos and Orange Jelly from our garden. Sure, at first thought, homemade gifts are a great way to save money and avoid the stress of the mall. But I hope our friends and family know that they are truly made with LOVE! So act like you like it when you open it, and a little squealing wouldn't hurt either! |
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