Bourbon Apple Butter

Begin by peeling apples, coring and quartering until 6 pounds of apple meat is achieved.

Prepare a large skillet, that will hold all of the apples along with three cups of water. Add the three cups of water. Heat water until boiling. Then, lower heat enough that the boil is maintained but it’s not an agressive boil. Soften apples, occasionally rotating them so they all achieve a nice soft texture, but not mushy. This will take about 30 minutes.

Next add apples, a few at a time, to a food processor and puree until all a uniform texture and size. But make sure they do not liquify. Get rid of any remaining water from the saucepan/skillet before returning apple puree to the pan.

When puree is complete, add back to your large skillet/saucepan and cover with 4 cups of sugar, cloves, cinnamon and 1 cup of bourbon. Bring this to a nice simmer and stir frequently, ensuring none of the puree burns to the bottom.

Begin preparing your jars and lids for canning, by washing the jars and bringing a large deep pot of water to boil, for the water bath. Submerge jars in pot and bring to a boil to sterilize jars and prep for sealing and canning. In small pan, bring some water to a slight boil to prepare the canning lids and rings.

You are ready to can when the apple puree holds it’s shape on a spoon.

Extract one jar from water bath at a time, filling the jar within 1/4″ of the top with apple puree. Extract one lid from the small sauce pan and after the rim of the jar has been wiped clean, place lid on top and screw down with lid screw top. Set aside and repeat this process with all remaining jars and lids.

When all jars are filled, gently place all of the jars back into large pot of hot water, and when they are all resting comfortably, bring back to a boil, cover pot with the lid and process for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes are complete, turn heat off and remove lid from water bath pot. Let jars sit in water for an addition 3-5 minutes and then remove carefully with canning lifter, set aside to cool.

When cooling, you should hear the popping sound, ensuring they are properly sealed.

After a long agonizing wait, and when all cooled down, open jar and enjoy on toast, or between sandwich butter cookies.