Apple Recipes: Apple Butter

I'm going to give two recipes here.

What I usually do:
Chop the apples into quarters. (maybe 5-10 lbs)
Have preschooler count apple pieces as he puts them in the big pot.
Put in whole spices: maybe 3 cinnamon sticks, a dozen cloves, (cardamom pods and ginger slices if I have them on hand!)
Add water and/or apple cider until the apples are just floating.
Simmer for hours while the smell fills the house (or until apples are tender - less than an hour)
Scoop out the apples and put them through a food mill (I have one for my Kitchen Aid) to remove seeds, whole spices, and peels.

Boil the left over water/cider to reduce it.

Add brown (or white) sugar to taste and enjoy some of the pulp as applesauce. If it is getting late, I save the pulp til tomorrow.

Now there are several options:

If I am making pies, I continue to boil off the water/cider until it is thick and syrupy. It is then boiled cider and makes fantastic pies as well as oatmeal/ice cream/pancake topping.

You can also add the pulp back to the water/cider and simmer it until you get nice thick apple butter. Or You could boil it down and add the boiled cider to the pulp. You can also serve the water/cider as mulled cider (this works even if you started with water, as long as you simmered the apples for several hours). Or you can toss the water/cider and just start simmering the pulp!

If you are starting with plain pulp, the easiest thing is to spread it in a pan and bake it for a few hours at 350 , stirring every hour or so. Otherwise, simmer for a 2-3 hours (or longer depending on how much water you had in with the pulp and how thick you like your butter.

I do it this way because I like my apple butter very thick, and I like boiled cider in pies (and I like my house to smell fantastic for 2 days!) . Most of the pectin in the apple is in the peel and the core, and the pectin is what thickens the butter.

I have also done it this way way: All Day Apple Butter. Still very good, the best option if you have no food mill, but not as thick unless you take the cover off the slow cooker.