Canned Apple Pie Filling

With all of the apples ripening now, this recipe might come in handy for some of you. It sure is handy to have that pie filling ready in a pinch if you have the room to store the jars.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups sugar
• 1 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/5 tsp. nutmeg
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 10 cups cold water
• apples of choice, peeled and sliced

Directions:

Combine all ingredients but your apples in a heavy bottom pan. Cook until slightly thickened about like gravy, stir often; let cool. While it is cooling, very tightly pack your peeled sliced apples in quart jars. Leave an inch at the top.Cover with your syrup and using a wooden spoon handle work the syrup to the bottom of the jars and break any bubbles. Make sure to add enough syrup to cover your apples by a half inch. Seal.

In a large pan cover your jars with 1 inch of cool water and hot water bath them on slow boil 30 minutes. Adding 1 cup of vinegar will keep the outside of your jars from looking cloudy when they come out of the water bath.

The number of jars you will get depend on how tightly you pack them. It took me the first time to get an idea of how many apples I needed. I think I usually get between 4 and 6 jars.

When you are ready to use a jar for pie you will want to taste your filling and add spices to your taste. This is pretty mild for my taste but one can always add more.

I have added the peeled, sliced apples to the syrup after it is thickened and then poured the combined filling in the jars with the same success. To me it is easier than packing the apple slices. You might want to try both to see which you prefer.

Good luck.

By Ann Winberg from Loup City, NE