Apple Butter

Well, Fuji apples were on super sale here in California this past weekend so I bought 5 pounds with hopes of either baking or canning with them.  Canning won out.  It was a toss-up between making apple butter or Swedish apple cake (this is amazing if you have yet to try it...), and since I haven't canned anything in a while I went with making the apple butter.

I discovered apple butter later in life, I think sometime around college (back in the early 2000's), and have never looked back.  There are many variations from very basic (just apples) to very spicy.  I decided to go the spicy route this time around.  I even threw in a 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom for the heck of it.

The one drawback of making fruit butters in the amount of time it takes.  Peeling, chopping, slicing, heating, simmering, and simmering....and simmering.  It seriously feels like it simmers f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  Since you really want a thick consistency it takes quite a bit of time (especially with juicier fruits like peaches or pears) to evaporate most of the liquid until you're left with a very spreadable and edible butter.  But, it's totally worth it.

In non-butter related news, it's been a grand week thus far.  A good friend just moved closer, my pepper plants have made a triumphant return after I was certain they were dead, I finished reading the Hunger Games series (amazing!!!), and to top it all off today is Leap Day!

DIY: Yogurt

Who else can't believe that February is almost over?  2012 is seriously flying by... 

I don't make resolutions for the New Year, but I do make a little list in my mind of things I want to do more of. And this year one of those things was to make more home dairy products.  I acquired this little gem of a book, Home Dairy, which gives detailed instructions and helpful tips for making all kinds of your own dairy.  I've already tried cheese and butter, and today I tackled yogurt.

It's so simple that I have a feeling this will be a repeated project every few weeks.  I never want to buy yogurt again!  

Here is how I made it...

Recipe:

slightly adapted from Home Dairy

4 cups whole, low-fat, or skim milk (I used skim)

3 Tablespoons live yogurt (make sure the container says it contains "live, active cultures") 

Or in place of the live yogurt you can use 1 packet dried yogurt culture.  

Heat the milk until it almost reaches boiling, about 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  A candy thermometer is very useful here. 

Remove milk from the heat and let cool until 110 - 115 degrees F.  Add 3 Tablespoons prepared yogurt or your dried yogurt culture.  I let my prepared yogurt come to room temp while I heated and cooled the milk before adding it.

Once fully incorporated, pour into glass jars.  I used recycled jars from pasta sauces, well washed of course.

Once in jars or containers for storing, let the yogurt temperature stay between 110 - 115 for about 6 hours.  I preheated my crockpot on low, then added the glass jars and secured the lid, and then turned the crockpot off.  This should give your yogurt a warm place to culture for the next 6 hours.  

Other methods include pouring the yogurt into a thermos, in a cooler with jars of hot water, or in a preheated but off oven.

Refrigerate and use within 1-2 weeks.  

Note: Homemade yogurt tends to be thinner in consistency than its store-bought counterpart.  If you prefer your yogurt to have a thick consistency, try adding 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin in the first step while heating your milk.  Or you can also try adding dry powdered milk, 3-4 tablespoons during the first step.

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A cute little face

Now doesn't that make a Wednesday so much better?  I think so.