Home-made Bagels

Happiness is a bagel in the morning.  If it weren't so true, companies like Thomas's, Lender's and Panera Bread would be out of business.  But what's in one of those bagels, really?  Have you ever thought about it?  Look on the ingredients label and I'm sure you'll see a whole lot of stuff that in no way resembles flour, water, sugar, salt, and yeast.

I'm a big fan of bread-making.  I can make artisan confectionery goodness for a fraction of what I would pay for it at a farmer's market, bakery, or the store.  It has the side benefit of making my house smell fabulous, which is almost worth the effort right there.  And the stuff I make is fresh, which is more than I can say for those bagels that have been sitting in that refrigerated chest in the grocery store.  How long does that stuff sit there, anyway?  How long did it take to travel from who-knows-where bakery/factory to the store?  How long did it sit in the back store-room waiting for the previous batch of inventory to expire?  And what happens to all the bagels that never get sold?

I know the answer to that last question; I worked for a zoo once.  Our bears fell all over themselves to grab a bite of cinnamon-raisin bagel.  So did the camels, sheep, goats, llamas, and primates.  Wrestling each gooey raisin from its bready cocoon was a favorite pastime there.  But whatever didn't find its way into a hungry mouth got thrown away.  Such waste...

The bread I bake is good, or at least I like to think so.  I  haven't bought a bread product in nearly 4 years.  Buns, rolls, tortillas, pizza crusts, sandwich loaves, soup bowls, muffins, cookies, cakes, stuffing, desserts...I make them all.  I figure that if I can't make it, then I must not need it that badly.  And it's all cheaper and tastes better than the store-bought stuff.  The dog certainly thinks so, anyway.  He makes a beeline to the kitchen whenever he hears the sound of the serrated knife clearing its holster on the kitchen counter.  Then I get eyes that look something like this:

I ask you:  how can someone refuse a face like that?

My most recent foray into baking is the cinnamon raisin bagel.  They turned out gloriously!!  I thought they put Panera to shame, anyway.  And cheap!!  They used only the things I had in my pantry, nothing more.  This recipe made enough for 2 weeks, so I froze whatever we couldn't eat right away.  Here's the recipe and technique I used.  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Ingredients:

Sponge 1 tsp yeast 4 cups bread flour 2 ½ cups water (room temp)

Dough 1 tsp yeast 3 ¾ cups bread flour 1 TBS cinnamon 5 TBS sugar 2 ¾ tsp salt 1 TBS honey 2 cups raisins, rinsed

Finishing 1 TBS baking soda Soup pot

Directions:

1. DAY ONE: Make sponge by stirring yeast and flour in a mixing bowl. Whisk in water and stir until it forms a thick, sticky batter. Cover with plastic wrap and proof at room temperature for 2 hours until doubled and foamy.
   
   
2. Make dough by adding yeast and mixing well. Add 3 cups flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and sweetener. Add raisins after dough has come together, just before transferring to the dough hook. Knead with dough hook for 6 – 10 minutes, adding additional flour as necessary.
   
   
3. Divide into 12 – 16 pieces and shape into boules. Cover with a damp cheesecloth and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
   
   
4. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper and mist with spray oil to prevent sticking. Poke a hole in the center of each boule, gently rotating thumb around the inside to widen it to 2 inches. Try to keep outside edge as even as possible. Place on baking sheets about 2 inches apart, mist with spray oil, and cover gently in plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 20 minutes more.
   
   
   
5. Use “float test” to check if bagels are ready to transfer to the refrigerator. Fill bowl with room temperature water, and test by tossing one in. If it floats in 10 seconds, remove the tester, pat it dry, and transfer bagels to the fridge for overnight. If not, remove it and re-test every 20 minutes so so until it does float. (Resting time may vary due to ambient conditions and dough stiffness)
   
   
6. 
   DAY TWO: Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees F. Bring a large soup pot of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil. Gently drop 3 – 4 cold bagels into the water, wait for them to float, then boil for 1 minute per side (flipping with skimmer). For chewier bagels, boil for 2 minutes per side.
   
   
7. Place finished bagels on a greased baking sheet (same as the one used earlier, just replenish the grease). Bake on the center rack for 10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through the baking time.
   
   
   
   
   

Making Butter

Recently on the latest season of the reality travel show The Amazing Race on CBS, the contestants traveled to Europe.  While there, one of the tasks they completed was churning butter.  That got me to thinking:  why can't I do that?  Seemed like a simple enough task, and no one I know has ever done it.  At least, not since kindergarten with the marble in a glass jar activity.

That didn't work out so well in my class...we broke the jar.  Cream and butterfat everywhere; not pleasant...

But surely, as an adult I could do this.  So I whipped out my trusty stand mixer, got some heavy whipping cream, and got to work.  Supposedly it was really fast and easy; all I had to do was pour the cream into the bowl, whisk it up, and the butter would magically appear 1 to 5 minutes later.

Fail.  I overlooked the fact that you had to LET THE CREAM SIT OUT.  Apparently, it needs to "acidify" a bit before you use it; to the tune of 18 - 24 hours.  Wait...what?  Doesn't that go against some kitchen cardinal rule or something?  Leave milk/cream on the counter; it gets sour; you throw it out.  Right?

Not for butter, apparently.  If the cream is too cold, it will never separate.  Trust me; I tried it for the better part of 2 hours the first time.  Heavy cream is made of two parts:  microscopic fat gobules, and the liquid that keeps them suspended.  Allowing the butter to sit out at room temperature for a day or so allows the chemical bonds to weaken to the point of being physically broken via agitation.  Once the cream's fat (butter) is separated from the liquid (buttermilk), you can use each product separately for its own purposes.  Voila - two products for the price of one!

So I tried it again, with MUCH better results.  It takes only a couple minutes, and is actually a really fun activity to do with children.  It's also a whole lot of fun to impress people with it at a potluck, because very few of us know how to make our own butter anymore.

Here's how you do it:

1.  Select fresh whipping cream.  Organic or pasture-fed, preferably.  Most cream you see on grocery store shelves has been ultra-pasteurized, which makes it harder for the fat-liquid bonds to be broken down.  You'll get a higher quantity of butter if you use the fresh stuff.  As for organic or pasture-fed, this will impact the color of the butter.  Cream originating from pasture-raised cows has a higher CLA content (conjugated linoleic acid), a higher level of Omega-3 fatty acids, and more Vitamin E and beta-carotene than its conventional counterpart.  This can be seen clearly in the color of the end product:  pasture-raised butter is a deep yellow color, while the butter from a cow fed a "conventional" diet of grain is almost pure white.


One quart cream = 1 lb butter & 2 cups buttermilk


2.  Allow the cream to sit at room temperature for 18 - 24 hours.  You don't have to open the container; just letting it sit there is perfectly fine.

3.  Pour the cream into the stand mixer, and whisk.  Start at low speed, then increase the speed to high to prevent splatter.  The cream will go through a couple stages:  frothy, soft peaks, hard peaks, clumping, and then final separation.  This will happen VERY quickly, so watch out!  Once the cream starts splattering again, back off the speed; you've separated the butter from the buttermilk.

4.  Pour the mixture thorough a colander to separate the butter from the buttermilk.  Save the buttermilk for biscuits, salad dressing, or pancakes.

5.  Rinse the butter with cold water in a stainless steel bowl.  Press the butter to the sides to release any buttermilk that might be hiding.  Repeat 3 - 4 times until the water runs clear; this will prevent the butter from going rancid later.

6.  Stir in any seasonings, if desired.  Salt, garlic and honey are the most popular.  Adjust to your tastes.

7.  Store in a glass/ceramic container.  You can also store butter in wax paper or aluminum foil, but it has a tendency to take on the taste of anything else that's sitting next to it.  So I find that glass containers keep it fresher, longer.  Butter can be stored at room temperature (3 days), frozen (3 months), or in the refrigerator (3 weeks).

ENJOY!!!

Healthy Snacking...Apple Chips

Nothing says "fall" like apples!  Around my house, we use them for everything:  desserts, breads, muffins, butter, sauce, soup, jelly, snacks.  Of course, apple season isn't complete until we've downed at least 2 gallons of cider.



This year, I decided to experiment with drying apples.  I always loved apple chips as a kid, downing bags of them at a time.  But now, as an adult, I usually can't eat them without having a heart attack over the price tag.  C'mon...$3.50 for a sandwich-sized baggie?  You have GOT to be kidding!!


Apple chips are the perfect guilt-free snack:  no greasy fingers, a satisfying crunch, sweetness, chock-full of nutrients, and low in calories.  Personally I'm not as concerned about the calorie count as much as getting my "3 a day" quota in for fruit servings...but some people are into the calorie-counting thing.  And as an added bonus, dried apples have a nice firm texture so you don't have to worry about that icky softness that some fresh apple varieties have.

So how do I make my own?  It's simple, really.  So simple that I can't imagine how I've gone so long without doing it.  All you need is a corer, a knife, some crystallized fruit preserver (a mix of vitamin C and sugar to prevent the apples from browning), an hour of time, and a food dehydrator.  If pressed, I suppose you COULD use the oven for drying, but most models don't have a temperature setting low enough not to burn them to a crisp.

1.  Wash, peel, and core the apples.  I usually do 3 or 4 at a time to stay ahead of the oxidation (browning) factor.  If I'm industrious with my spacing, I can get anywhere between 12 and 15 apples into my dehydrator's six drying racks.

2.  Cut the apples lengthwise, then slice each half into 4 or 8 slices, depending on how thick you want your chips to be.  Thinner slices are reminiscent of a potato chip, while thicker slices are more like a sweet jerky.   I've done both, and still can't decide which I like better!

3.  Soak the slices in a fruit preserving solution for 10 minutes.  Mix 2 quarts of water (8 cups) with 2 TBS granulated fruit preserver until dissolved.  Dump in the apple slices, and wait.  This will prevent the apples from browning, and act as a preservative.  This is usually when I start cutting up my next batch of apples.
 
4.  Remove the apples from the solution, drain, and place on the drying rack.  They can be as far apart, or as close together, as you wish.  So long as they're arranged in a single layer and not overlapping, it's all good.  If the apple slices are close together, it will take longer for them to dry...but only by a few hours.  If the slices overlap, parts of them won't dry properly and you could get mold growth.

5.  Dry the apples at 130 - 135 degrees F until dry and leathery.  Depending on the temperature, altitude, and humidity of the house, this will take anywhere between 6 and 48 hours.  Now my favorite part:  testing the apples to see if they're done!  Grab a few slices and eat them...fully dried apples should be leathery.  Thin slices should be crispy, while thicker slices should snap apart like jerky does.

6.  Allow apples to cool to room temperature, and store in an air-tight container.  Allowing the apples to cool prevents their container from getting condensation on the inside and re-hydrating the apples as they're being stored.  I like to keep my apples in a glass jar, or in a plastic bag.  They'll keep for awhile...exactly how long I can't say, because I always eat them within a week or two!

Enjoy!

Mmmm...home-made tortillas...

So, I'm a baker.  A bread baker, actually.  It started off simple enough, with your banana and zucchini breads...but then, I fell in love.  And of course, as with any new relationship, the inevitable infatuation came along with it.  My progression was slow; experimentation with dessert breads progressed to cookies and muffins, which morphed to sandwich breads, which led to shaped loaves and buns, which expanded to pizza dough, and finally...to tortillas!

I've not purchased a single baked good from the store in 3 years.  And happy to say, I'm still in love with baking.  Imagine that.

It always surprises me how easy bread making is.  The easiest of them all are the tortillas.  Go figure that I tried them last....oh well, c'est la vie.  

Because making tortillas is so incredibly easy - even fun - and cheaper than anything you can find in the store, I decided to post my tortilla recipe and technique here.  

Enjoy!

Home-made Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour/cornmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp olive oil
• ¾ cup warm water (about 15-25 seconds in the microwave)

Directions:

1. Combine flours, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
   
   
   
   
2. In a separate bowl, mix oil and water. Add to the dry ingredients, and mix until dough comes together, adding more water as needed. Knead for 1 minute, shape into a boule (a baking term for a ball), and let rest in an oiled bowl for 10 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Separate dough into 8 - 12 pieces and shape each into a ball.  (Amount depends on how big or thick you like your tortillas)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to flatten each dough ball into 6" rounds, about ¼” thick. If tortilla is still very sticky, dust with flour.  Stack tortillas on a plate.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Heat skillet over medium heat (dry...NO OIL) until very hot.  Cook tortillas one at a time until gently blistered on each side, flipping once during cooking.
   
   
6. Stack finished tortillas on a plate, separated by small paper towel squares to prevent sticking.

You may want to use these for tacos, enchiladas, burritos, or wraps immediately after cooking, but they store well in the refrigerator also.  Just allow them to cool to room temperature, then place them (paper towels and all) in a sealed plastic bag and refrigerate up to one week.  Warm tortillas in the microwave before using.

YUM!!

Preserving the Harvest

Autumn has a way of reminding us of that winter is just around the corner: crisp mornings that make you want to crawl back under the warm blankets, shortening days, breezes that aren't quite as summery as we remember them.

But it's also harvest time for the gardeners...or at least, those of us who frequent farmer's markets hunting for good deals on fresh produce! Autumn is the last hurrah for warm-season plants like tomato, onion, peppers, eggplant, apples, and squash. Such color, such flavor, such variety! But now that you're sufficiently swimming away in produce, what to do with it?

Can it!

People have been preserving food for thousands of years. Before the 18^th century, foods were usually smoked, dried, or salted after being harvested. In cold climates, food could even be frozen in the winter, or stored in a root cellar to keep cool. 

The idea of canning fresh produce came about in the late 1700s, when Napoleon Bonaparte of France offered a large cash prize to the man who could develop a reliable method of food preservation. Napoleon needed a way to feed his armies in the far-flung battlefields of Europe, and shipping fresh food across the continent wasn't a very reliable option...especially during winter when fresh food was scarce, and travel was treacherous.

Fifteen years after Napoleon presented his challenge, a wine-maker named Nicholas Appert had perfected the technique of preserving food by heating it and sealing it in a glass bottle, like wine. The idea worked because it was simple and workable, but it had some major flaws. The food was heated so much that the flavor was destroyed, and there was no concrete time duration for food to be considered “fully cooked.” Glass bottles also presented problems for transportation, as they could break.

C. botulinum bacteria, cause of Botulism in foodstuffs

In the early 1800s, an Englishman named Peter Durand perfected Appert's method by using a tin can to store food instead of a glass bottle. This method also worked well, but didn't gain widespread popularity until 100 years later...when someone came up with the bright idea to invent a can opener. Other problems plagued the canning industry, such as using lead solder to seal tin cans...and food processing times in excess of 6 hours. The growth of the deadly C. botulinum bacteria in canned food was also a problem, especially in low-acid foods like vegetables.

Fast-forward 150 years: wide-mouth glass jars gain popularity in home preserving. They start with just a smooth mouth opening, like a wine bottle; then in 1858 a man named John L Mason invented a jar that had grooves around the mouth like a screw. Of course, he named it after himself...and the concept is still used and printed on the sides of canning jars today. But there was a little problem with that jar; the lids were metal, which could rust and break the seal, or contaminate the food. In 1882, this problem was fixed. A clamped glass-lid jar called the “lightning jar” was developed, which had no metal contact with the food, was fast to open and close, and created a seal by using a rubber ring. This jar type was very popular, and remained in usage until the 1960s. By 1915, a fruit jar manufacturer named Alexander Kerr was credited with the development of the flat, disposable lid that we are now familiar with in home canning. This flat lid had a rubber seal permanently fixed to the bottom, which could be thrown away after the jar had been used. People could now reuse their old jars, and only have to purchase new lids every year! BIG cost savings, and even better for food safety!

Today, we understand how we can preserve foods safely via canning. Low-acid foods must have lemon juice or vinegar added in order to prevent the growth of the botulism bacteria, or these foods can be processed in a pressure cooker. And of course, the importance of kitchen cleanliness is paramount.

A few days ago, I taught you to make your very own apple butter in my post “Enjoying the Harvest”. Now, I'll teach you to preserve it!

HOW TO CAN APPLE BUTTER (WATER-BATH METHOD):

Canning Kit

There's a couple things you'll need to get started: a soup ladle, a box of regular-mouth pint jars, a canning kit (complete with jar tongs, head-space ruler/stir stick, wide-mouth funnel, and lid wand), and a large soup pot or home water-bath canner. If you don't have these at home already, you can buy them at your local grocery store for less than $20 each.

Sterilizing Jars

First, you'll want to sterilize your jars. You can do this in the dishwasher, or by hand. I recommend using the dishwasher, if you've got one. Simply place the jars and bands on the top rack, put in some detergent, and turn it on! By the time the machine is done with the dry cycle, your jars will be clean and properly sterilized. Just don't wait too long after the dry cycle is complete; your jars should still be warm to the touch when you start putting food in them!

If you don't have a dishwasher, don't stress. Simply pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees F, wash your jars with warm, soapy water (don't forget to rinse them), and place them upside-down in a couple of glass baking dishes. Bake the jars for at least 10 minutes before putting food in them. They should be warm to the touch by the time you're ready to use them.

Sterilizing Lids

Sterilize your lids next. This can be done in two ways: put your lids in a small saucepan and simmer them over low heat until you're ready to use them, or put them into a mixing bowl and pour in a pot of boiling water. I've done it both ways, and they both work well.

Meanwhile, fill your water-bath canner with water and bring it to a rapid boil. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil too; you never know when you might need some more boiling water! It never hurts to be prepared...

Filling Jars

Now that your water is boiling, begin filling the jars. You'll want to do this one at a time; canning does NOT work well in assembly-line fashion!! Grab one warm jar from the dishwasher or oven, and fill it with the hot apple butter. Everything MUST be warm, or the glass jars will shatter when they go into the boiling water for processing. You'll want to use a soup ladle and wide-mouth funnel for this, or else you'll make a mess all over the counter. To keep things clean, it's also nice to have a dishcloth under your workspace. 

Measure Head Space

Use the head space ruler to measure a ¼ inch head space between the top of the jar and the apple butter. If you have too much apple butter, scoop it out with a spoon; if you don't have enough, add some more. “Head space” is the term we use for that gap between the food and the jar mouth, and the height differs for what product you're canning. Some foods have ¼ inch head space; others can have up to 1 inch. Be sure to double-check the head space in your recipe, or in the Ball Blue Book, the home canner's bible. It is very important to do this accurately, because your jar could seal badly...or not at all! 

Cleaning Mouth

Wipe the jar mouth clean with a wet dishcloth. Make sure there's no food on there that could interfere with the rubber on the lid from making full contact with the mouth of the jar. Once that's done, use the lid magnet to get a lid from the simmering water and place it on the jar mouth. Use a finger to keep it in place, and use a band to tighten it down. Finger-tight is more than enough; the idea is just to keep the lid from flying off during processing...not to make it tamper-proof!

Use the jar tongs to grab the jar and place it in in the hot water bath. Repeat this process until all your jars are filled, or your canner is full with jars having enough space for water to flow freely on all sides.

Once the canner is full, cover the jars with 2-3 inches of water, and boil the jars for 10 minutes. The water pressure of the boiling water forces the air inside the jars out through the lid, so that's why that band is so important! This is also where the head-space comes into play; if there is too much head space in the jar, not all the air will be forced out during processing, leaving some bacteria behind to spoil the food.

Use your jar tongs to remove the jars from the boiling water. Place the jars in a out-of-the-way spot on your kitchen counter, preferably covered with a dishcloth to absorb any water drips and prevent the hot glass from shattering on a cold surface. There will be a little water pooled on the lid, but do not tip the jars sideways to pour it off!! This could break the rubber seal, and you'll have to re-process the jars.

Let the jars cool on the dishcloth for 12-24 hours, until they have reached room temperature. The glass and rubber heat up and forms a molecular seal as they cool, which makes a perfect vacuum seal. You'll know you've gotten a good seal when you hear a metallic “pop” coming from the tops of the jars. The jar lids will also look as if they're being sucked into the jars, which is a good thing! If you're unsure whether or not you got a good vacuum seal, test it by pressing down on the jar lid. If it moves or pops, re-process it...or plan to eat that one within the next month.

Remove bands and store jars in a cool, dry place for up to 1 year. Once opened, use the bands to keep the lids in place, and store the jars in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. For convenience you could store the jars with the bands on, but be sure to loosen them a bit so water won't dry in the threads and make them rust.

Enjoy your apple butter!!

Enjoying the Harvest: Apple Butter

Ah, October! It's the perfect time of year: beautiful blue-bowl skies, crisp mornings, warm afternoons, brightly colored trees, crunchy leaves, and best of all...APPLES! With more than 2,500 varieties grown in the US alone, and more than 7,000 worldwide, it's hard to get tired of them. You can have almost any color, flavor, or texture you like: red, yellow, green, crispy, tart, sweet, soft...the list could go on forever. And of course, who could say "no" to fresh apple cider?

One of my favorite fall condiments is apple butter. Enjoy it on toast, bagels, muffins, or even pancakes...it's a perfect snack, bursting with fall flavor. Most people think that only the Amish living in the northeast part of the state know how to make the world's best apple butter, but the truth is, anyone can make it...even you! All you need is a couple hours on a dreary afternoon, an apple corer, soup pot, and a blender.

The Ball Brothers

I've been making apple butter for 3 years now. I didn't used to be an apple connoisseur, but then I worked at the Minnetrista Cultural Center, home of the Ball family who founded a glass factory in Muncie in the 1880s. They eventually became famous for popularizing the Mason jar used in home preserving...and giving their name to my collegiate alma mater: Ball State University. 

Apples at the Minnetrista Orchard Shop

Minnetrista was the name of the eldest Ball brother's home, and at the turn of the century, it contained an orchard with more than 300 apple trees. That orchard is long gone today, but a new one is being grown in its place to teach students about apples. And Minnetrista's Orchard Shop is one of the best places around to buy local apples and fresh-pressed apple cider! Minnetrista has an industrial cider press on-site, and the staff presses fresh cider every week during the fall.

As I learned about different apple varieties, I discovered that a variety of apples is the key to making GREAT apple butter.  It's like wine; the more varieties you use, the better the overall flavor.  I've used as many as 6 apple varieties before, but you can use as few as 4. Mix them up between tart and sweet to get a nice blend of flavors! This year, my tart apples came from Minnetrista. I'm a fan of the Cortland, McIntosh, and Jonathan varieties, but Fugi, Ida Red, Braeburn, Granny Smith, and Winesap are all good tart varieties too. Actually, I've never tasted a tart apple I haven't liked...

My sweet apples came from my boss's grandfather's orchard in Alexandria, IN. Red and Golden Delicious are amazingly good sweet apple varieties, along with Jonagold, Gala, and Honeycrisp. I'm not as much of a fan of these varieties, but they make for great cooking!

MAKING APPLE BUTTER:

Here's a list of what you'll need. This recipe makes enough apple butter to fill 4 pint jars, but I don't recommend “cutting down” the recipe to make less...apple butter is one of those things best made in big batches. If 4 pints is more than you can eat in a month, can it! Don't worry if you don't know how; I'll teach you to do that in my next post, “Preserving the Harvest”.

• 15 medium to large apples
• 4 cups apple cider
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ¾ tsp allspice
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

First you'll want to wash, core, and cut your apples into bite-sized chunks. Cut out any bad/mushy parts, but spots/speckles or scars on the skin is fine. DO NOT PEEL the apples! The skin contains pectin, which makes the apple butter become jelly-like as you cook it down. 

Pour the apples and cider into a large soup pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmering (low or medium-low, depending on your stove). Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Your apples should be nice and soft now, and some may become separated from their skins.

If you've skipped ahead and already added the sugar and spices at this point, don't stress! I've done that for two years now, and my apple butter still tastes great! It really doesn't matter when the spices go in, as long as they get there eventually.

Blend the apple mixture in a blender/food processor until smooth. You'll want to do this in batches, so keep a large mixing bowl nearby. DO NOT fill your blender over halfway! It will overflow when you turn it on...and sticky, scalded hands are no fun! Keep in mind too, to cock the blender lid a bit so it doesn't pop off from the built-up steam. Cover the opening with a clean dishcloth to keep the apple mixture inside the blender, where it belongs.

Rinse the soup pot free of any large apple chunks. Return the blended apples to the soup pot, and add the sugars and spices. Mix well, and heat the mixture to boiling. Reduce the heat to low or medium-low, and cook for 1.5 to 4 hours. Stir every 30 minutes or so to prevent sticking and burning.

Feel free to leave the kitchen and do other things while the apple butter is cooking; it doesn't need your constant supervision. Just kick back, relax, and enjoy the smell of warm apple-cinnamon wafting through your house!

The duration of cooking depends on the consistency you want. The longer the apple butter cooks, the darker, thicker, and sweeter it becomes. Cooking the apples for a short time resembles applesauce, while a true apple butter is thick, and a rich mahogany color. You can cook your apple butter for as long as you like; I accidentally cooked mine for nearly 6 hours this year, and it still turned out great!

Enjoy!!