Today was Apple Pie in a Jar Day. I ended up with 13 quarts of apple pie, ready to give away, 1 quart that did not seal in the fridge to be made into my one pie a year I end up making and 2 quarts of apple sauce made from the peals and cores. Not a bad haul. And only a few apples left to figure out what to do with. I am leaning towards the dehydrator tomorrow.
I think I have the process pretty well worked out. I picked up a new peeler at a garage sale for $1. I wanted to try the suction cup version vs the clamp version and I think I love it. I did like being able to clamp the old one to the board over the sink for bowl placement, but the stability of the suction cup on the counter makes using it a lot easier.
The key seems to be bowls of water. One bowl to rinse the apple, one to hold the peeled apples, one to hold the sectioned apples and one to hold the parts that needed extra processing. I found that doing it in steps worked great. I peeled all the apples, then used the sectional slicer on them all. If the slices needed extra attention, they went into another bowl for later processing. All the peels, cores and extra bits went into a pot to be cooked down for sauce.
While processing the apples, the jars went through a sterilizer cycle in the dishwasher and I started on the 'sauce'. My recipe is pretty simple.
10 cups water
Slight 5 cups sugar
1 cup corn starch
spices to taste
I heat 8 1/2 cups of water on the stove, add the sugar and spices. I use about 2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon, around 1/2 teaspoon ginger, about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, a couple of shakes of cloves and a couple of shakes of allspice. You can see I am not really precise about the spices. Most recipes only call for the cinn. and nutmeg, but I like a lot of spice in my pie.
While this mixture is heating is a good time to pack the apples into the jars. Now is also a good time to heat your water to sterilize the lids. I use an electric kettle, so the water is usually ready about the time the jars are filled. I like to sterilize the lids as close to using them as possible so that the seal ring is softened a little. I feel like I get a better seal. I pour the boiling water over them as I am putting the sauce into the jars and let them sit a couple of minutes until I am ready to use them.
Mix one cup of cornstarch into the remaining 1-1/2 cup of COLD water. This is important... corn starch does not like to go into hot fluid, but will go right into solution in cold. Once the hot mixture is boiling, stir the water/starch mixture in and stir continuously until it comes back to a boil and thickens.
Next step is to pour the 'sauce' over the apples. I use my measuring cup as a scoop and pour devise and it seems to work pretty well. Make sure your rims are clean and go ahead an put on the lids. Boil in a water bath for 30 minutes, remove and let cool.
I find that one jar works great for the thinner store-bought crusts, but a deeper crust needs most of two jars. I usually use the remainder and make a little tart for myself. I am actually not a big fan of top crust on my pie, so I use a cinnamon crumble to top my pies.
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter cut into the above mixture
spice to taste
