A couple of weeks ago we went on an apple picking adventure with some friends.

So, after a thrilling (although warm) day, we came home with over twenty pounds of apples.

In case you don’t know, that’s a lot.

I decided to be adventurous and  try making apple butter.

So we borrowed my mom’s handy apple peeler.

We peeled and sliced for over an hour…

and put them on the stove to steam until they were nice and soft.

**One thing to keep in mind…watch for these guys if you’ve purchased “pesticide free” apples.

Once the apples were soft I blended them all up.

From there I followed this recipe.

I put everything in the crockpot and went to bed.

The next morning I turned it on high and left it for about two and a half hours until it had thickened up.

Then came the canning.  This is the part that used to make me nervous.  But I’m a pro now.

The key is for everything to be hot.  I put the jars in an old cakepan full of water on the stove, and the lids in a pot of boiling water.  Once everything’s heated up well you just fill them and you’re done.

This wide-mouth canning funnel is really helpful.

After the jar is filled and the lid’s on tight, it’s good to let them sit undisturbed for a day or two, so that they seal well.

So, we ended up with 6 jars of apple butter, and (because I decided to be really daring) 4 jars of apple peel jelly.  Couldn’t let all of those beautiful peels go to waste!

Overall this was a lot of fun, and I would definitly like to make it a yearly tradition.

There is a downside of course…