Apple Butter

I have made apple butter before, and I always have a hard time remembering what recipe I used and what changes I made. So I'm putting it here. We had a great lunch party at Mom's house on Thursday afternoon with all the girls. But we had lots of left over apple slices. So I brought them home to make apple butter.

5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon all-spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything in the crockpot and cook on high for 1 hour. Then turn to low for 9- 11 hours. Well, that's what the original recipe said. What I did was on low for 6 hours. Then it was time fore bed. So I unplugged it. Then the next morning I cooked it on high for another hour and on low for 5 more hours. Then I put it in the fridge again because I had other things to do. Then when I pulled it out of the fridge, I dumped it in a pot and cooked it on the stove for several more hours - probably 5 or so! It took FOREVER! Everything said to tell if it's done, you have to put a spoonful on a plate, and when it stops having liquid form around the edges, it's ready. That takes a really long time and it all depends on how much moisture it in the apples. So I started with 5 or more quarts of apples, and by the time I was done, I had 6 half pint jars of apple butter - so it decreased by about 75 percent! (Who knew there was so much water in apples??)

To preserve the apple butter, put it into sterilized jars while it is hot. Then put it in a water bath for 10 minutes of boiling time. At least that part is fast. And because they are small jars, I just did it in a big pot instead of in the water bath canner. It's so much faster when  you don't have to wait for all of that water to heat up! Now maybe you will all get apple butter for Christmas!