Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, so the kids and I decided to make some Slow-Cooker Apple Butter to share with friends & family. It's an easy recipe to kick start the holiday season, and the smell of it cooking just fills the air with the feeling of Fall.
Baking & cooking with kids is such a great activity! It helps them work on their fine motor skills, math skills and hand-eye coordination. The kids helped peel the apples, measure ingredients, pour & mix.
Recipe:
6 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and cubed Juice of half a lemon 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon salt
Place the cubed apples in a slow cooker and toss with the lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients.
Stir the sugar mixture into the slow cooker until the apples are evenly coated. Add in the scraped vanilla bean pod.
Stirring intermittently (about every couple hours or so), cook the apple for about 5 hours on high, or for about 10 hours on low, until the apples are soft and break easily with the back of a wooden spoon.
Carefully fish out the vanilla bean pod. Purée the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively, transfer the mixture to a regular blender (be careful — the apples with be very hot!) and blend until smooth.
Return the puréed apples to the slow cooker and cook on low for about 2 more hours, until thick and the flavors are concentrated.
This recipe was found here.
After the apple butter was done cooking, we canned in mason jars for preservation using the water bath method, which is explained here. For this recipe, leave a 1.5' head space, and process for 10 minutes.
Once they had cooled and set for 24 hours, we decorated the mason jars with some pretty fabric, twine and labels. Ready to hand out after Thanksgiving dinner!
Happy Baking!
xoxo Nicola
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