Apple Butter Cake

As promised, I've begun using our apple butter to trial some new recipes. This cake was SO delicious! The icing wasn't quite what I expected. It turned out to be more like a glaze, but it did not lack in flavor. I made it a two layer round cake. Next time I think it will be bundt. Sorry, no picture for this one. It was gone before I had a chance.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Serves: 16
Cost: Approx. $2.50

1/2 cup butter ($.75)
1 cup sugar
4 beaten eggs ($.25)
2 1/2 cups flour ($.25)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 cup apple butter ($1.00)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add sifted dry ingredients alternating with milk. Mix well. Blend in apple butter. Pour into greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

Quick Caramel Icing

1 cup brown sugar ($.25)
1/2 cup cream/milk
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar and milk in a saucepan and cook covered for several minutes. Remove lid, bring to a boil. Allow to boil for a few minutes stirring occasionally. Add butter. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Add vanilla and beat until thick and creamy. (Mine never reached this consistency.) Spread on warm cake.

Apple Butter

You can find this recipe and many others for your kitchen at the Recipe Swap at the Grocery Cart Challenge.

What to do with 30 pounds of apples? (I can't resist a sale.) Make A LOT of apple butter. It was a bit of work, I'll admit, but my helpers were eager to mash and strain. And the cost savings is significant. A 12 oz jar of apple butter can be between $4-5. Our cost was around $1.75 for 12 oz. With this apple butter I plan on trying a few new recipes: Apple Butter Pie, Apple Butter Pancakes, Apple Butter Cake with Caramel Icing, and Apple Bread Pudding. Any requests on which one I should make first?

Prep Time: 10 minutes (using and apple corer)
Cook Time: 3 hours
More Prep Time: 1 hour (w/o food mill:(
Yield: 16 cups
Cost: Approx. $6.00

15 pounds apples cored and sliced ($6.00)
2-3 cups sugar
4-5 cups apple cider ($2.00)
Cinnamon to taste

Place apples in large pan or roaster. Cover with cider and desired cinnamon. Bake at 300 for 3-4 hours or until apples are soft and falling apart. Mash through a medium strainer (or food mill if you have one). Store in airtight container. Freeze or refrigerate immediately.

Creamy Stewed Apples

Last weekend I picked up a small cookbook entitled, "Old-Fashioned Apple Recipes". Knowing that I had 30 pounds of apples at home waiting for me was quite the motivating factor. I just couldn't pass up a 5lb bag of gala apples for $1.89 each. Here's one simple way to cook apples that is beyond delicious.

Prep Time: less than 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 8
Cost: Approx. $1.00

4 apples cored and sliced
bacon grease or 2 Tbsp butter
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbs flour
1/2 cup cream or milk
cinnamon

Cook apples in bacon grease or butter for about 2 minutes stirring constantly. Mix brown sugar, salt and flour into the cream/milk to form a smooth paste. Add to apples. Cook at medium heat until mixture thickens. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving.

This would make a great side dish, but we enjoyed our served over cinnamon french toast. It made for a perfect accompaniment to spinach/bacon/cheese crustless quiche. Pretty good for a meal made from what was already on hand.

Apple Butter

Saralyn wondered what ever happened to all those apples. Well, I couldn't get the apple peeler to work, so I resorted to peeling by hand. I made four apple crisps for the freezer and then gave up. So I cored and washed them all and put them in the crock pot over night. I added about a cup of sugar and lots of cinnamon. When I awoke it smelled divine, but looked like a big brown nasty mess. This was not the applesauce I had envisioned.

Then I researched online and discovered that I had in fact made apple butter! Who knew? So I added a bit more sugar, strained apple pulp through a fine strainer and put it in jars for the freezer. We've been enjoying it ever since.

Sadly, this is all that is left.