Vanilla Bean Apple Pie FillingDay Two Hundred and Ninety Six (12.03.2013)
Processing: Boiling Water Canner 25mins (half-pints, pints, quarts)
Storage: 12 months +
Yield: 25 cups
Delicious apple pie filling - using locally grown apples and infusing with vanilla bean. Once you've made some jars of pie filling, you simply pour into a pie shell, cover with top and bake. Quart (950ml) jars are great for family-sized pies; half pint (1-cup) jars of canned pie filling make approx 3 x mini snack pies. Pie filling is also delicious stirred through homemade yoghurt or used as a topping on cheesecake, pastries, pancakes, ice-cream or other desserts.
Ingredients:
4 1/2kg (10 pounds) firm, ripe apples
water
1 1/2 cups Clearjel
2 cups room temperature water
8 cups of apple cooking water (or apple juice)
1 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
3/4 cup bottled lemon juice
Prepare jars.
Prepare jars by covering in water and boiling for 10 minutes.
Prepare apples.
Wash, peel and core apples. Cut into thick 1/2 inch (1cm) thick slices. Place apple slices into a bowl of water (with half a lemon squeezed in the water) to prevent browning while you prepare the rest of the apples.
Heat apples 1min.
Using a slotted spoon, place 6 cups of apple slices into a wide pan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil apple slices for 1 minute, then use the slotted spoon to remove to a bowl, cover bowl and repeat with remaining apple slices in the pan. Keep cooking liquid to use in the recipe.
Combine sugar, ClearJel and 2 cups cool water.
Measure sugar, ClearJel and 2 cups of room-temperature water. Use cool water so the ClearJel doesn't clump. Add scraped vanilla bean and pod. Whisk well. Stir in 8 cups of apple cooking water (or apple juice if you wish). Whisk well to combine then heat until bubbling and thick. Remove empty vanilla bean pod. Stir in the bottled lemon juice.
Prepare lids.
While you are heating the pie filling, place the lids into a pan of previously boiling water. Do not simmer or boil, just let the lids heat through in the few minutes while you make the pie filling, removing the lids from the water when you are ready to place them onto the jars to seal.
Stir in apple slices and fill hot jars with hot pie filling.
Immediately stir the drained apple slices into the pie filling, and bottle straight away into the hot jars, filling to 1 inch (2.5cm) headspace. Carefully bubbles, wipe rims and seal.
Boiling water canner processing.
Process in boiling water bath canner for 25 minutes (start timer once water returns to a full boil). When time is up, turn heat off and rest jars in water for 5 minutes before placing onto a towel-covered bench overnight to cool.
Next day: check for seals.
Check jars have sealed before labelling and storing in a cool, dry and dark place for up to 12 months.
For more photos of this recipe, visit HERE