It had been a long time since I wanted to make apple butter again. All I needed was a few hours at home, and tons of apples. When the occasion presented itself a few days ago, I didn’t hesitate! I grabbed all the apples we had at home (different varieties, coming from friends or family’s gardens), along with a red kuri squash (small pumpkin) that just happened to be in my way at the right time. Since I don’t have a Slow Cooker (yet!), I simply cooked my apple butter in a saucepan for a veeeeeery long time, stirring from time to time.

For 6 small jelly jars :

• 1 and ¼ (300ml) cups organic apple juice with no added sugar
• 15 apples, peeled and diced
• 1/4 of a red kuri squash, peeled and diced
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)

Put apple juice into a saucepan, bring to a boil. Add diced apples and red kuri squash, lemon juice and spices, reduce heat to simmer and cook until it looks like applesauce (about 20′). If there still are some chunks in the applesauce, pulse in the food processor into a puree. Now taste it, and decide if you want to add sugar or not (I like it not so sweet so I only add very little sugar). Know that as it will cook a loooong time, most water will evaporate and then the resulting mixture will have a higher concentration in sugar than the puree you have now. Cook on medium/low heat for another 2 hours or so, frequently stirring, until a lot of the water evaporate and the apple butter thickens and gets a slightly darker color. While still really hot, pour into sterilized jars and seal. I keep my apple butter refrigerated, but if you’re not planning on refrigerating yours, make sure you properly sterilized the jars. I simply place the jars for a few minutes in really hot water right before pouring the hot apple butter in it, and I’ve been able to store them for several weeks in the refrigerator.