Homemade Apple Pie Filling

I love the smell of a fresh apple pie cooking in the oven when the weather is turning cooler outside. And I especially love making this homemade Apple Pie Filling because once it’s completed it’s so easy to put an apple pie in the oven within minutes.

When making this recipe, I used to peel, core and cut all of my apples using a knife, but I finally invested in a Johnny Apple Peeler. I wish I would have purchased it years ago because it would have saved me so much time! It peels, cores and slices the apples and really makes the process of adding the apples to the jars so much faster. And my little ones love helping me use the apple peeler. It’s a good product you’ll want to look into having if you plan to make homemade apple pie every year.

The directions are below to make the sauce that goes over the apples in the jar, as well as how to process the jars so you can have apple pie filling ready to go when you want a fresh, hot apple pie. I really love being able to pour this filling in a pie crust and place it in the oven within minutes and have a fresh apple pie any time of the year.

Before you make this apple pie filling, you’ll want to get these items to help you process the apple pie filling in the jars:

Here is the recipe for Homemade Apple Pie Filling:

Homemade Apple Pie Filling

Author: Lisa Park

Cook time: 50 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 6 quarts

Prepare this delicious apple pie filling in advance to make it easy to put an apple pie in the oven within minutes.

Ingredients

4½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup corn starch
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
10 cups water
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
6 lbs. peeled, cored, and sliced apples

Instructions

Prepare canning items by filling the water bath canner with hot water and starting to heat it up. Wash and rinse jars, and leave them in hot water in your sink until you need them.
Fill a medium-size pan with hot water and place on the stove to simmer. Place lids in the simmering water (not boiling) and keep them there until needed.
In a large saucepan make the sauce by mixing together the sugar, cinnamon, corn starch, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in 10 cups of water. Cook and stir until thick and bubbling. Add lemon juice and stir.
Peel, core and slice the apples. Pack apples into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Fill with hot sugar sauce leaving ½ inch headspace. Use a spatula to distribute sauce evenly and to get air bubbles out of jar.
Wipe the top and threads of jar with a clean, damp cloth. Remove one lid from the simmering water with tongs and place it flat on top of the jar so the sealing compound is against the jar. Screw a band down firmly.
As each jar is filled, stand it on the rack in the canner of hot, not boiling, water. Once the rack is full of jars, lower it into the canner. The water should cover the jars 1 to 2 inches. Add more hot water if necessary. Place the cover on the canner, and bring the water to a boil.
Process pints for 15 minutes and quarts for 20 minutes. Take jars out of water canner. Allow to cool for 24 hours before storing jars in a cool spot.
When you are ready to make an apple pie, buy or make a double pie crust (see recipe below). Line the bottom of the pie plate with one pie crust. Add the quart of apple pie filling, and dot the top with butter. Place the other pie crust on top and adjust. Cut slits in the crust and seal the edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

DOUBLE PIE CRUST:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons butter
6-8 Tablespoons ice water

Directions:
Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening and butter. Add water one tablespoon at a time, gently tossing with fork. Handle the dough as little as possible. Gather into two balls, and refrigerate for 1/2 hour before rolling out.

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