Apples!

About a week ago, my husband came home with a bag full of apples!  He was mowing someone's lawn who happened to have an apple tree FILLED with ripened apples!  Wow, what a gift, right?  Well... not what I thought initially.  I thought to myself, "Great, he picked the apples and now is expecting his lovely wife to do something with them... apple pie, apple bread, apple crisp, apple torte..." 

Well, my favorte apple-ish thing has always been apple butter.  I never knew why it was called "butter", but I knew if I had some at home, I would put it on anything and everything!  Right??  Anyway, so, after giving some of the apples to Joshua (he's learning to eat fresh apples... well, he walks around with them taking little bits and pieces of it... so cute!)...

... I decided to try an Apple Butter recipe I found on a Crafts 'n things magazine

(courtsey of Allrecipes.com)

All Day Apple Butter

(I made 1/2 the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 
  
  Apples (peeled, cored, finely chopped), 5 1/2 lbs.
• 
  
  Granulated sugar, 4 c.
• 
  
  Ground cinammon, 2 tsp.
• 
  
  Ground cloves, 1/4 tsp.
• 
  
  Salt, 1/4 tsp.

Instructions:

Place apples in slow cooker. 

In a medium bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. 

Pour mixture over apples and mix well. 

 Cover and cook on high 1 hour. 

Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally until mixture is thickened and dark brown. 

Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. 

Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness. 

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

Yield 4 pints.
(or 2 pints if making 1/2 recipe like me)

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 Then it was time to enjoy it! 

I chose to enjoy it on a yummy piece of Zucchini Bread

(a recipe from my dear friend Christine's cookbook.  Christine, YOU ROCK!).

Try it!  It's sweet... it's crispy apple-ish sour...  delish!