Winter always slows down a bit in the portrait business and that leaves me with a little time on my hands to take care of projects around the house. This year I canned apple pie filling for the very fist time. If I hadn’t been give a large bag of apples a few weeks ago I probably would not have gone out of my way to do so. I didn’t want to see the apples go to waste so I got on the internet and started searching for recipes. After a little looking I came across a recipe that is quit tasty.
Canned Apple Pie filling with vanilla and buttershots
Ingredients:
– 4 cups sugar
– 1 cup cornstarch
-1 tbs. cinaman
– 1 or 2 vanilla beans (split & scraped)
– 9 cups water
– 1 cup Butterscotch Snapps
– 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice
– 1 tsp. lemon zest
– 9 lbs. apples (peeled, cored & sliced)
Optional Ingredients
– 3 cloves
– 1/2 tsp. cardamon
– 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Directions
1) Peel, core & slice the apples.
Next year I’m buying one of those contraptions that cores & peels the apple at the same time (like the one pictured below).
Using the hand peeler was so teadus. I’ll never do it this way again.
I like to place apples either the sink or a large container full of water & fruit fresh. This should be done immmediatly after slicing to keep the apples from browning.
2) In large pot place first 5 ingredients and optional spices.
Tip:
When using Vanilla bean you have to scrape the inside of the vanilla bean.
Don’t add the entire vanilla bean.
3) Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly.
Stir from time to time, making sure the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
Once the mixture is thick and bubbly remove from heat. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and butterscotch schnapps.
4) Sanitize canning jars.
I don’t have a dishwasher so I have to place the jars in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
5) Pack Jars with apples and top with liquid mixture.
Make sure to leave about 1/2″ to 1″ head space at the top of the jar.
6) Process jars in hot water bath for 25 minutes.
7) Remove from water bath and let cool.
You now have lots of apple pie filling at your fingertips. At a moments notice you have prepared apples ready for use in pies, as an ice cream topping or any other baked good you can think of.
