Apple butter
So the basics of what I did are at:
I'll run through the basics here so I can capture the routes I took, and prevent having to keep going to that awful website...
Note that I started out by making the apple sauce from that page [2] (actually I think my applesauce was a combo of that and the quick/meal applesauce link [3]. Essentially, core your apples, leave the skins on, and put all the wedges in a stock pot on the stove with some apple cider. Note the instructions said to use the cores, but that seemed stupid to me, so I threw those out. Heat up the stock pot on high until the liquid starts to simmer, reduce to medium and let cook until the apples are softish. Then I put them through my food mill to get rid of skins and left over seed and core chunks. At that point, we go back to the main apple butter link.
From the food mill I put the apples that fit into the crock pot. The rest you can save for after the first bunch cooks down. I may have added a bit more cider here, or at least the liquid from the stock pot. If you add too much here though it will take longer to boil off and get thick. Here you also add the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and half the sugar. I started with whole cinnamon, allspice berries, and cloves, and ground them up fairly roughly with a spice grinder or something. I may have used more of each spice than is listed, I don't remember. Also, I may have used more sugar than recommended. I don't remember :)
Set the crock pot on low, put the cover on most of the way but leave a gap, etc, etc. Then you just let it cook for like 6 to 12 hours or so. It should have reduced a bunch, and you can add the rest of your applesauce and sugar. This should cook another good while, 6 hours or so, until its as thick as you want it. I took an immersion blender to the bunch after this to make it very creamy. That loosened it up a bit more, so I let it cook longer to thicken it back up.
Then you can it, or just eat it, or whatever.
