Apple Butter

There is a great discount food store not too far from where we live. I admit to going there weekly, mostly for their great produce. This summer I was getting farm grown red peppers four for a dollar, bags of spinach a dollar a piece and portobello mushrooms as big as a plate four for two dollars. They often times have organic milk/cheese/yogurt too, for a fraction of the price. Mike's Discount Foods on Central in Columbia Heights. Great place.

Last week when I was in there perusing the produce section I noticed five pound bags of locally grown apples. One dollar a piece. I grabbed two. I had planned on breaking them down last week (peeling, coring and slicing) to put in the freezer but in the rush to leave and whatnot I never got around to it. Well that brings us to yesterday when I was perusing my usual favorite websites when I came across two delicious sounding recipes. Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp from Smitten Kitchen and All Day Apple Butter from All Recipes. So last night while the Mr. was at his writing class I got to work. I put a new disc of AMCs Mad Men in the MacBook, got some newspaper, a knife and a peeler and was ready to go. It was nice really; quiet house, good drama, productive work, comfy PJs. In then end I had over sixteen cups of apple slices. Some I put in the fridge to make the crisp in the morning, a couple more cups I put in a bag and stuck in the freezer. The majority of them I put in the crock pot overnight with some sugar, cinnamon and cloves and let it do it's thing.

This morning we woke up to the house smelling like apple pie. It was Awesome. I stirred the apples, hit it with my immersion blender and left the top off for another couple of hours to let it reduce a little. Simplest thing I've ever done. Voila, apple butter. I've added the recipe below. It's the perfect thing to make with all of those apples you've gotten from the orchard. The best part? It even freezes.

Apple Butter

adapted from AllRecipes.com

• 5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 4 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Place the apples in a slow cooker. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt with apples, make sure every apple is coated with sugar mixture.

Cover and cook on low overnight (approximately eight hours).

In the morning uncover, stir, blend (in batches in blender or immersion blender) until desired consistency is reached.

Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until mixture is thick, around four hours.

Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze.