Apple Butter

This recipe makes the best dad-gum apple butter I have ever put in my mouth. And I have put a lot in my mouth. Wait…. that sounded dirty. Let me rephrase that. I have put a lot of good apple butter in my mouth. There! That’s better! (No Doyle, I don’t want to hear it!!) The only bad part about this recipe is the peeling and dicing of the apples. Seriously, that’s it. After you dice, you just throw it in the slow cooker and walk away for about 9 hours. Go take a bath, do your nails, eat chocolate….. the world is your oyster! However, if you are a mom like me, you would probably go clean house and do laundry while keeping your little monsters busy. What?! Monsters is a term of endearment in this house! Besides, have you seen Rupert?!

Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need apples, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt, vanilla, and almond extract.

Step two: Peel and dice your apples and throw them in the slow cooker.

Step two: Throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Step three: Turn slow cooker on high, close lid, and walk away for an hour. Come back and turn cooker to low. Walk away again for 8 to 9 hours.

Now, knowing me, I never leave anything alone for long so I decided to check out the apple butter half way through cooking time to show how it will break down into apple butter.

Now also knowing me still…. I don’t have a picture of the finished product. Why? Because we had some dear friends over for supper and I was busy socializing!! And where did we do most of the talking? In the kitchen of course! Everyone always winds up in the kitchen!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

5 1/2 lbs. apples of your choice, peeled and diced rather smallish (smallish…… smallish…..)

4 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Throw everything in the slow cooker, close lid, turn on high, and walk away for an hour. Come back, turn cooker down to low and walk away for the next 8 to 9 hours. When your apple butter is dark and thickened, take lid off, and let cook for a little longer to get rid of excess water. Now you can put this in jars and process in a canner if you wish but honestly, the butter never lasts that long in this house. I usually put it in a jar and store it in the fridge for a few weeks.

We usually put apple butter on biscuits or on a hoe cake. I found the recipe for hoe cake on Southern Plate. It is a giant fluffy biscuit with a crispy exterior. You must try it. It is life changing. You will be hooked. Quick time-saving tip: When you have time, make up several batches of the flour/shortening mixture, put enough for one hoe cake in a zipper bag,  and store in the fridge or freezer. When it comes supper time on a busy work day, grab a bag, add your milk, and pop it in the oven. Mmmm….. goodness on an ordinary week night. Speaking of which, I need to go make more batches. Happy eating!

Thank you for reading.

Hot Fudge Sauce

I have an admission to make. My family and I love absolutely adore sundaes. We keep the fixings here at the house all the time including homemade hot fudge sauce. It’s so easy to make, keeps for a few weeks in the fridge, and its made from ingredients you probably already have. I also have another confession. I am a Dollar Tree junkie. Most of my sundae fixings like candy and nuts come from there. I also like to get a lot of my party supplies from there too. It’s so fun and cheap too! WHEEEEEE! Now, onto the sauce!

Step one: Gather your ingredients. You are gonna need sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, instant coffee, milk, cream, butter, and vanilla.

 

Step two: Stir together sugar, flour, salt, cocoa powder, and instant coffee in a bowl. Set aside.

 

Step three: Combine milk, cream, butter, and vanilla in sauce pot and heat over medium heat.

 

Step four: After butter melts, turn heat up to medium-high and add dry ingredients. Whisk to get rid of lumps. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes until thick, stirring constantly. Pour fudge into mason jar.

 

 

 

Step five: Gather together your ice cream, candy, cherries, nuts, and whipped cream. Chase dog out of kitchen. Grab your favorite bowl and make your ice cream heaven with tons of whipped cream, nuts, and extra cherries.

 

 

On a side note: I just wanted to show you the cute bowls that I got from the Dollar Tree for the kids. Aren’t they the cutest? I got a pack of three with spoons for a dollar! Also they have some pretty good little candies. The bag on top is filled with little peanut butter cups, the middle has fudge filled candy stars (Patriotic, aren’t they?!), and the bottom has espresso filled dark chocolate cups. And boy, are they good!

 

Hot Fudge Sauce

2 c. sugar

4 Tbsp. flour

2/3 c. cocoa

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee

1 c. milk

1 c. cream (You can most certainly use all milk, it’s still good!)

4 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, and instant coffee in a bowl. Set aside. Put milk, cream, butter, and vanilla in saucepan over low heat. When butter melts, turn heat up to medium high and add dry ingredients. Whisk to get rid of lumps. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.

Beat back children with a spoon until you make your own bowl…er…..uh…. until sauce cools slightly. Yeah, that’s it.

Waa Waa says, “Thank you for reading.”