Apple Butter and Homemade Pretzels

Daring Cooks time again!

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

I chose to do the apple butter to get myself into the fall mood. On Saturday morning we stopped by the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market to stock up on the apples. We'd never been before, so we got so excited by all the fresh produce, breads, cheeses and meats that we picked up some tomatoes, greens and elk jerky, and even stayed for lunch (I had nachos from Magdalena's Menu, he had a curry sampler from Thunder Mountain Curry). I couldn't find Golden Delicious so I went with Gala instead. Four pounds ended up being about 14 apples, as they were small.

I was somewhat less excited about this challenge than the previous ones, as it didn't involve a meal or any challenging new culinary techniques. Canning was definitely new, and maybe could be considered challenging, but didn't do much for honing my cooking skills, really. Still, it was a good thing to know how to do, and I do love apple butter, so overall it was a fun challenge.

However I did find the recipe and instructions to be very confusing, ambiguous and contradictory, so just a warning - there may be a bit of kvetching (not to mention improvising) in my writeup below.


Source
The Daring Kitchen September 2010 Daring Cooks Challenge
Reduced Sugar Apple Butter - National Center for Home Food Preservation (mine was not reduced sugar, as I used regular sugar instead of sucralose).

Yield
I ended up getting 4 and a half 150-ml jars, so just under 700 ml total

Equipment
Knife
Cutting board
8-quart pot
Potato masher/ricer or food mill (note - if using a masher or ricer, peel the apples before cooking)
Stick blender (optional)
5 - 6 canning jars with lids and metal rings - very easy to find in the grocery store in the fall
A pot large enough to hold the jars with at least an inch of water overhead
A rack or other item to put at the bottom of the pot to keep jars off direct heat (I actually didn't use anything, and it was fine)
Rubber spatula
Tongs

Ingredients

4 lbs. Apples (12-14 apples, depending on size)
1 cup Apple cider (as my apples were very stubborn and just didn't want to cook, I had to keep adding cider and used probably 4 cups in total)
1 cup Sugar (again, the recipe called for sucralose or splenda - none for me thanks, I'll just use regular, naturally-occurring sugar)
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground all-spice
1/4 tsp. Ground cloves


Directions

Wash apples very well.

Remove stems and blossom ends.

Cut apples into eighths

Ok, now here's where I have an issue. The Daring Cooks host says at this point that this is where he ended up peeling the apples. First of all, all he says is that this is where he peeled the apples, and didn't say whether that is required or optional, or why one would be preferred over the other. Second, if you're going to peel the apples, peel them before cutting them into eighths, obviously, not after. I didn't peel them, because the actual recipe later specifies to put unpeeled apples to the pot. This would have made pureeing exceptionally difficult without a food mill. It should have been very clear that you don't have to peel the apples if you have a food mill, but if you don't and instead intend on using a potato masher or ricer, you definitely need to peel the apples.

Remove the hard core parts and seeds from the apple pieces.

In an 8-quart pot, combine the "unpeeled" apples

and the apple cider.

Cook low and slow, stirring occasionally. Cook until the apples are very soft, basically mush.

As you can see, this is the part where I still thought it was a good idea to try to use the potato ricer. It didn't work at all with the skins on. Eventually I gave up and went to the food mill, which very nicely pressed the apples through while keeping the skins out.

I put the food mill right over the pot, since the next step is cooking the apples again.

Add in the sugar and spices (all-spice, cinnamon and cloves)

and mix in well. At this point it's good to use a stick blender to get the smoothest texture from the apples, but it's not necessary.

Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Cook until it's thick enough to basically stand up on its own.

Now for the canning part. Wash jars very well with soap and water and let air-dry. Fill with the apple butter, leaving a 1/4 inch space at the top.

Run a rubber spatula along the inside edge of the jars to get rid of any air bubbles, and wipe down the outside of the jars. Put on the lids and metal rings tightly.

Lower the jars into the pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and leave the jars in for another 5 minutes.

Using tongs, carefully lift the jars out of the water, keeping them level. Place the jars on a dish towel and leave them to cool for 12 to 24 hours. As they cool, the lids will dent in, meaning the seal is secure. The apple butter was good, about the same as any other apple butter I've had before. Minus the canning it's actually pretty easy, as long as you have a food mill.

We canned the 4 full jars, but ate the half a jar right away, as it's not good to can with that much air in the jar. My sister, a former Auntie Anne's Pretzel pro, found a copycat recipe and decided to make those to have with the apple butter. The recipe came from AJ's Cooking Secrets. I don't have the exact process down, but here are some pics that I took while she was making them:

These were the best pretzels I have ever had. They were perfectly soft, with just the slightest bit of crunch on the bottom. The cinnamon sugar pretzels were the best with the apple butter.