Farmhouse Kitchen: Apple Pie Filling For Gift-Giving

2010 Apple pie filling day.

This Saturday is my day reserved for a whole long day of making canned apple pie filling for gift-giving this Christmas.


I have a bushel of Cortland apples.  I have the jars, and I have the red gingham lids. 


I will make one huge mess for one whole day, and then later on closer to Christmas, will assemble the toppings for each jar of pie filling and bag them up in brown craft bags, and add a twine bow to each.


Here is a photo essay of last year's apple pie filling day and the later photos from when I assembled the gift bags.

A delicious caramel sauce, without using one bit of butter!  Amazing!

**Please note:  after using the apples done with the apple peeler/corer/slicer, I decided I like the hand peeled, hand cut, chunkier--I guess what you would call more primitive looking apples in my pie filling.  


I do NOT like the uniformity of the apples sliced this way, so I no longer use the peeler/corer/slicer for this job.  I would only use the peeler/corer, and leave off the slicer, and then chunk my apples up in a more homey way than the slicer does it for me.  The end product is also MUCH better.

Little E patiently watches the whole process!

Me & my sis!  

Here's the recipe:

APPLE PIE FILLING 

(To can)

20 Apples washed, peeled, cored, and sliced

(let slices rest in a bowl with water and 1 T. lemon juice to prevent fruit from browning)

In a large saucepan bring the following to a boil and stir until thick and pours like a thick sauce from your spoon, approximately ten-twelve minutes.

10 c. water

5 c. sugar

1 c. cornstarch

2-1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1 t. salt

Once the sauce is done, remove the pan from heat and add to it

3 T. lemon juice

Pack apple slices into jars until almost to the top of the jar.

Ladle hot sauce over apples within 1/2" of jar top.

Seal with lids and rings and process jars for about 20 minutes.

Remove from canner and cool completely and make sure jars are sealed before storing.

(This was done using a regular canner, not a pressure cooker.)

Yeild: 6 BEAUTIFUL Quarts!

If a jar does not seal, keep it in fridge and use it sooner rather than later!

AUTUMN APPLE CRISP RECIPE 
(This recipe for a delicious topping on one pan of apple crisp (using a glass 8 x 8 or a pie plate) using one jar of my canned apple pie filling, recipe above.)



3/4 c + 1/2 T all purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick cold butter, in chunks
1/2 c. chopped pecans, chopped
2-1/2 lb. apples, peeled and 
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/4 maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. For the topping, put 3/4 c. flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon and butter in a food processor and pulse to form moist clusters. Mix in pecans.

2. Cut the apples into 1/2" chunks and put them into a buttered 9-1/2", 2 qt. pie pan (or use an 8 x 8" pan, I used glass). Add cranberries, maple syrup, and 1/2 T. flour; mix. Scatter on the topping.

3. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until bubbly and top is crisp along the edges. Serve warm, at room temp, or chilled. Can be reheated in the microwave and served with a petite scoop of vanilla ice cream, as shown. 

Serves 10

This apple crisp is delicious and I think it's important to use the old-fashioned oats, and the chopped pecans are PERFECT in a crisp topping, making it more crisp than usual! I ripped the recipe from a recent copy of the PARADE magazine that comes in Sunday's newspaper.

Since I have canned my own apple pie filling, I am able to skip the peeling and chopping of apples in this recipe, and just mix the topping, and I did not use the maple syrup.

I had a card made that I used photos of the filling and the finished product, with the recipe for using the topping on my canned apple pie filling.  As shown in the photos above, I individually assembled the recipe for the topping in a bag with instructions to add the butter and baking instructions.  I kept the dried cherries or cranberries separate in case the recipient didn't care for them.

If you have any questions, please say so in the comments and if your email is not enabled on your account, watch back in the comments section for your answer to your question, I will do my best to answer!

(I frequently hear from those I give this delicious filling and crisp topping to as a gift that they absolutely loved it and look forward to getting this as a gift.  The older I get, the better I like giving consumables as gifts, if it's not salsa or homemade jam, it's this pie filling and the topping.  And it's always a hit!) 

It won't be long now!