I love Fall! It's my favorite of all seasons. Fall leaves, crackling fires, hoodies, and of course, apples, pumpkins, soups, stews and more.
This Apple Pie Filling is so easy to make and convenient to have on your pantry shelf. Want to make an Apple Pie Dessert or Coffee Cake? How about Apple Crisp, or Apple Crumble? Grab a jar! It's that easy.
Ingredients
6 large baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/2-inch slices
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup Clear Jel (a modified corn starch used as a thickener in canning)
1 tbsp. Fruit fresh (optional)
1-2 tbsp cinnamon
2-3 tsp. ground nutmeg
How to:
Peel, core and slice 6 large baking apples (you need to use crisp, crunchy apples). Apple slices should be about ½” thick.
Mix 2 1/2 cups sugar with 2 1/2 cups water in a large saucepan or small stock pot.
Add 1/4 cup Clear Jel, 1 tbls. “fruit fresh” (found in most grocery stores), 1-2 tbls. cinnamon, 2-3 tsp. ground nutmeg. Add apple slices to sugar mixture.
Bring apples mixture to a boil over med-high heat and boil softly for 5 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Sauce will thicken slightly while cooking.
Ladle apple and sauce mixture evenly into pint canning jars, leaving ½” head space. Screw lids on jars.
Add jars to boiling water bath - this can be a large stock pot with a cooling rack placed in the bottom (I use a round cake rack). Cover jars with hot water to 2” above jars. Place canner on burner and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a low steady boil and process jars 25 minutes (this is the same for pints or quarts). Alternately you can also use an NCHFP approved steam canner (my new favorite friend).
Remove canner from heat, and remove jars, placing them on a towel on a kitchen counter.
Allow jars to seal completely (the button-type section in the middle of the lid will depress and you will not be able to push it down).
Yield: 4-6 pint jars
Cook's note - Clear Jel is a modified corn starch used as a thickener in canning pie fillings. This is not to be confused with Sure Jell which is a powdered fruit pectin used in making jams. You can safely leave it out and thicken your pie filling when you go to use it.
Enjoy,
Mary
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