Last month I used my slow cooker aka the crockpot to make a batch of homemade apple butter. It’s REALLY easy to make your own plus you can control how much sugar you want to add! Once you have it made…you can refrigerate it (for a few days), freeze it or can it using a water bath canner. I like to can it for use throughout the winter season.

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First things first…get the apples! We have an apple tree in our backyard. It’s a baking apple variety. I like to pick apples from the tree and mix-in a few Gala apples that I pick-up at the Farmer’s market. I think combining the two balances out some of the tartness you can get by using baking apples. Just my 2 cents on that!

Peel and core the apples. Chop them into 1/2″ to 1″ chunks. Place them into the slow cooker crock-pot with just enough water to cover them. You don’t want to add a slew of water! As the apples cook down they make even more liquid (juice), so only add enough water to cover them. I turn it on high for the first hour and then turn it down to the low setting for an additional 2 hours. You need the apples to be soft and squishy once they’ve cooked.

I use a slotted spoon to scoop out the apple chunks transferring them to my Ninja Blender. Don’t transfer any of the water! Fill up the blender container and blend until smooth. Pour the water out of the slow cooker. Transfer the smooth apple mixture (basically unsweetened applesauce) back into the slow cooker. Add granulated sugar (to taste) and ground cinnamon (to taste). These amounts vary depending on your taste buds and how many apples you used. Stir everything together and place the lid back on top.

Turn the heat setting to medium or high. Every 30-45 minutes stir the mixture in the crockpot to keep it from scorching or getting too sticky. You’re basically cooking it now to evaporate out any remaining liquid and to thicken it up. You also want to it darken-up in color, so don’t add any fruit-fresh or lemon juice. This process takes me about 2 hours to complete. It’s done when you can get it to MOUND UP on a spoon.

You can spoon it into small freezer containers, let it cool and then freeze or you can follow your water bath canner’s instructions to can it. I personally can it using small jars in my water bath canner processed for 10-12 minutes. You can check out my Home Canning Apple Butter Recipe on the blog.

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Carrots…they’re not one of  my family’s favorite vegetables. However, I can get them to eat them if they’re Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots which are sweeter. Last month I was busy with my home canning and canned a dozen jars of these yummy Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots. I opted to use pint size jars. Here’s the recipe along with some home canning tips. Recipe will yield approximately 6 pint jars.

Looking for more great home canning recipes? We have over 75 of them right here on the Two Classy Chics blog! Recipes for canning fruits, stews, soups, salsas, vegetables, sauces, etc.

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Tips: Get out all of your supplies ahead of time. Wash and inspect them. Have them all laid out and ready to go. You don’t want to be searching for items in the middle of processing! You’ll need a pressure steam canner for this recipe which is different than a water bath canner.

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots Recipe for Home Canning

6-8 lbs. fresh carrots, peeled and sliced to 1/4″ thickness
Salt
2 cups Brown Sugar
2 1/2 cups Water
1 cup Orange Juice
Pint Size Glass Mason Jars
Seals and Rings + Other Canning Supplies

Wash carrots. Use a vegetable peeler and peel off the skin. Slice carrots into rounds that are about 1/4″ thick.

For this recipe I use the RAW PACK method.

Bring 2 cups of brown sugar, 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of orange juice to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Use this as the hot syrup when canning the carrots. Syrup needs to remain hot but not boiling as you’re filling the jars.

Pack the sliced raw carrots into the glass mason jar leaving 1″ headspace at the top. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Ladle the hot brown sugar syrup into the jar…leaving a 1″ headspace at the top.

Remove bubbles. Wipe the jar rim with a clean cloth. Place a hot seal on top. Screw on the ring until fingertip tight. Place the jar on the rack in the pressure canner. Continue this process until all of the jars are filled. Make sure the canner has 2″ of hot simmering water in the bottom of it before placing the jars inside it.

Place lid on the canner and turn to the locked position. Adjust heat to medium-high. Vent steam for 10 minutes. Bring pressure to 10 pounds. Process pint jars for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat. Cool canner until it reaches 0 pressure. Don’t open it until it reaches 0. Once it reaches 0 set a timer for 5 minutes and then remove the lid. Let jars cool for 10 minutes inside the canner with the lid of the canner off. Then carefully remove the jars to finish cooling to room temperature. Lable and date all jars before storing them in your pantry.

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