apple butter!!

until this summer it had been years and years since i'd done any canning. i have fond memories of spending a whole day in the kitchen with my mom and my grandma and grandpa farmer putting up tomato juice and mixed vegetables for soup. yes, it was hard work but the sense of satisfaction was worth it. this summer we put up over 130 quarts of food -- pickles, tomatoes, tomato juice, green beans and chili sauce. after all of our garden produce had been put up mom and i still yearned to do more canning so we made apple butter! this was a super easy recipe made from canned applesauce and baked in the oven. here's my sister kathy's recipe!

kathy's homemade apple butter

1 gallon canned applesauce -- we bought a case of 6 gallons from a wholesale food distributor
3 pounds brown sugar
1 5 oz bag of red hots
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon

mix all the ingredients together in 2 large cake pans. we used the biggest ones mom had -- around 12 x 15 inches. stir very well. cook in preheated 350 degree oven for 3 hours or so with one pan on the top shelf and the other on the bottom. stir every half hour or so. after 1 1/2 hours switch the pans so the one on the bottom is on the top and vice versa. it will get thicker as it cooks. when done scoop into pint jars, add lids and process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath. we got 5 1/2 pints per recipe. so far we've made 20 pints and still have 2 gallons of applesauce left.

this is a very sweet recipe. the next time we make it, i plan to reduce the amount of sugar a bit. 

all ready for christmas gift-giving!!