Easy Apple Sauce/Butter

I got this applesauce recipe from my friend, Katey but made changes. I try to simplify things as much as possible. I also love apple butter so my version is more like apple butter. Yum. When I was making it I felt like Diane Keaton in Baby Boom making Gourmet Baby Apple Sauce.

1. I core my apples and cut them in half.
2. I fill my crock-pot with them till it's full to the top.
3. I turn on the crock-pot on low for about 8 hours.
(I often do this before bed and let them cook all night.)
4. Then I sprinkle a heavy amount of cinnamon. (you can add as much as you like to your own taste.)

5. Once cooked, I puree the apples and then ladle it into jars.

That's it. I leave the skin on for extra fiber. I use gala apples which are a dessert apple and so sweet I don't need sugar. I don't add water because I want it to be thick like apple butter. I don't add lemon because I'm happy with my apple butter color (and the skins make it a dark apple sauce.

You can by all means peel the apples first.

Here is Katey's original recipe. Thank you for sharing it Katey!

4 lbs tart apples, cored and sliced thin

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1.       Mix apples (about 12 cups) with cinnamon and sugar and put into crock pot.

2.       Pour water and lemon juice over apples. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.(I cook them overnight and we have it for breakfast, yum!)

3.       Dump apples and juices into food processor and puree well.

Hand Squeezed Butter

I know that when you hear "hand squeezed" you usually think of orange juice but I'm not kidding when I say hand squeezed butter. I know, don't fall out of your chair yet, but I'm churning my own butter. I realize that I risk losing some readers at this point who think I've crossed over the edge! But, bare with me a minute. I've been reading about which foods are the most important to eat organically and yes, dairy is at the top of the list. So, I want organic butter but guess what, it's expensive. So, I thought I'd experiment and see if I could make it cheaper than buying it. It's super easy to churn your own butter with the modern tools of today, the true question was "is it cheaper?"

So, I bought organic whipping cream and set to work last week. Actually, set my mixer to work. After measuring the before amounts, the cost of already made organic butter (unsalted) and then calculating the resulting measurements and comparing the price, it actually didn't save me that much money. Here's the deal, the butter part was cheaper store bought from where I get it, BUT it did yield 2 cups of buttermilk which was "free" so to speak. So, if you count the free buttermilk, well, then it was cheaper. Organic buttermilk cost me about $2.75 for a carton so I got about $1.37 worth of free buttermilk. Doesn't sound like such a good deal but here's the kicker.....my family went nuts for my homemade butter and homemade buttermilk. I have to admit the buttermilk was amazing! It made buttermilk pancakes like we've never experienced! It was seriously shocking. So, even though it doesn't save me a whole lot of money, the quality was well worth the time. Considering it doesn't take all that much work, we'll be making this from time to time. Now, if you are still with me after this lengthy post, I'll share with you the steps.

Ingredients:
2 pints heavy whipping cream
(you can add salt if you want but we use all unsalted butter)

Tools:
mixer or food processor
strainer (optional)

Whip the whipping cream through the many stages till you get butter. That's pretty much it. So, it turns first into fluffy whipping cream, then it gets really thick, then it starts to condense and turn yellow.....then it starts to separate and the yellow turns to little pea chunks and milk starts to come out of it. Keep whipping till you get a hard butter and lots of milk.

Now is when you want to strain the buttermilk and put it into a jar and refrigerate it to use in pancakes or recipes that week.

Now you can take the butter and with very clean hands, squeeze it. Yep, go right ahead and start wringing it out. Press it into a butter dish or mold it if you desire. I'm always amazed how soft my hands are after hand squeezing butter!

Now, you might think I'm totally nuts but seriously this wasn't that hard. =0)

Answering Questions- spreadable butter

Can you bake with the spreadable butter?

I made cookies with this butter and I'm not happy with the results. They melted down to thin cookies like those made with margarine (I don't like cookies made with margarine...just butter ones). They also were crispy on the edges (got dark on the edges) and were super crumbly. They just didn't want to hold together.

So, there's the baking test that some were asking about concerning the healthier butter mix.

Homemade Butter

This is another fun thing to do. We always did this on Thanksgiving day when I was a kid. The kids get a kick out of it and I still do too...

Pour heavy whipping cream into a large canning jar.
Put the lid on tightly and start shaking.
Pass the jar around and let all the kids do some shaking.

It will first turn to whipped cream inside.....

and before long, it starts to separate and you've got a chunk of butter and buttermilk in there.

Take the butter out and save the buttermilk for a later use. You can add salt if you'd like to.

Here is a pretty good tutorial on it.