This is such a simple recipe! It makes great gifts, your house smells like autumn heaven, and most of all every jar you open is better than the last!

Homemade Apple Butter Recipe

First step; make applesauce! Cut up your apples into large slices and boil them on medium-high until tender. You can also use pears and try some pear butter too!

We used a food strainer/sauce maker to grind them up. If you don’t have one, you’ll have to peel and core your apples and use a potato masher or blender.

Next step; bake! Mix in your seasonings and sugar, transfer to a large baking dish and bake your applesauce until it starts to thicken, about 3-4 hrs. You could also try the slow cooker on low with the lid off. This is my favorite part, it smells SO good. They really need to make an apple butter candle scent or something!

If you’ve never canned before, you might be intimidated by the next step, but you could always freeze it instead.

Canning these jars were SO easy! Just make sure you have some new lids and boil the cans until you hear them pop and seal, about 10 minutes.

Edible Gifts: Homemade Apple Butter

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

2 hours

Total time

2 hours 15 mins

 

This Homemade Apple Butter is addicting!

Author: True Aim

Recipe type: Appetiser

Cuisine: American

Serves: 2 quarts

Ingredients

• 8 Cups Applesauce
• 3 Cups Brown Sugar
• ½ Cup Vinegar or Cider
• 1 clove
• 1½ Tbsp Cinnamon

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients thoroughly and pour into a baking dish or casserole.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 2-3 hours or until thickened, stirring occasionally.

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Have you ever made apple butter before? I’d love to try some cranberry butter some day! If you have a good recipe, please leave a comment

The post Edible Gifts: Homemade Apple Butter first appeared on True Aim.

When you let that control go, beautiful things happen. My children have blossomed with the responsibility. Their confidence has grown and the idea that they can accomplish most things on their own is starting to grow roots.

An “I can do it” attitude is what happens when you let children take the reigns in the kitchen. Here is Audrey’s first recipe she’s made on her own; Clafouti. Other than putting it in the oven, she did it all – from reading the recipe to turning on the oven.

In case you didn’t know, Clafouti is a thick pancake-like dessert that usually has cherries in it. We substituted green apples and pears for the cherries to make the perfect fall Clafouti.

Apple & Pear Clafouti

I did it! I let her make it all by herself and it was more of a struggle for me than her. I had to hold myself back from jumping in several times.

Why do mothers want to do that? Is it because we’re impatient or worried it won’t turn out right?

Is it because we don’t want to see our children fail or be disappointed? It’s probably a little bit of all of those things.

She struggled a little bit with whisking it. It needed a LOT of whisking, but I stayed out of it and she worked it out.

Yes, there was a little flour on the floor and some extra vanilla in the recipe, but it was so fun to watch. I was very proud.

Apple and Pear Clafouti

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Apple and Pear Clafouti is a light french cake that tastes like a thick crape.

Author: True Aim

Recipe type: Dessert, Breakfast

Cuisine: French

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 green apple
• 1 red pear
• 3 tablespoons butter melted
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ cup honey or sugar
• ½ cup half & half or light cream
• ⅓ cup flour or ground almonds
• Confectioners sugar
• Whipped cream for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and prepare an ovenproof dish with cooking spray.
2. Wash the fruit and cut it into ½ inch slices leaving the skin on.
3. Whisk the butter, eggs, vanilla, honey, half & half together. Then add the flour and whisk until well combined.
4. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and add the slices of fruit gently to the top.
5. Cook for 40-45 minutes or until it is firm in the center. Let it cool slightly and serve with confectioners sugar and whipped cream.

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I think it tastes best served warm with a little whipped cream. Bon appetit!

The post Cooking with Kids: Apple Clafouti first appeared on True Aim.

This post contains an awesome Giveaway! For more info read my full disclosure.

We love fall because of the cozy atmosphere, the harvest, and the start of the holiday season. Hope you enjoy some of these fall themed activities as much as we do.

Learning with Fall Leaves

Colors, counting, even sewing; leaves make great learning tools that all children like to collect.

1. Practice letter sounds with a fall ABC roll and say game. Pick up the game and practice motor skills by having your child move the small nut without his hands, just the tray!

2. Work our your memory with a free printable Autumn leaf memory game.

3. Leaves make a great material for beginners to sew with! The crunchy ones might not work as well.

4. It’s like a puzzle, leaf shadow matching makes a great file folder game!

5. Number art made easy, try this number recognition fall tree painting.

6. Go on a nature walk and learn to identify a tree by its leaves with these identification cards.

 Fall Apple Learning Activities

Apples are in season so why not use them in your learning activities!

7. Get some more ABC practice in with this simple apple letter tree activity.

8. Free apple themed printables will brighten up your lesson plan.

9. Make math fun with lots of free apple themed math printables and learn how to use them Montessori style.

10. There are lots of fun ways to count and learn number recognition with apples!

11. Apple science teaches children all about fruit and what’s inside an apple.

12. There’s even more ways to play and create with apples here.

More Unique Fall Learning Activities

Have you found some inspiration? If not, here are a few more learning activities that kids will love!

13. Sing, sing a fall song or teach your kiddos some fun rhymes for circle time!

14. A guess who game combines critical thinking with language arts and includes a cute owl craft too!

15. Pumpkins make handwriting practice festive! Get a free printable here.

16. With the fall harvest comes Thanksgiving, a perfect learning theme for fall.

17. The Creator of the universe invented fall, so you know you have to try one of these fall Bible activities.

18. You can’t go wrong with a few more fall arts and crafts for those fine motor skills.

Fall Mega Cash Giveaway!

I’ve partnered with lots of other bloggers to bring you a Mega Cash Giveaway and lots of other ideas for Fall Activities for kids! 4 lucky people will win $500 cash.

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Check out even more fall activities while you’re here!

The post Giveaway! 15+ Unique Fall Learning Activities for Preschoolers first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library!

Filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

Be sure to subscribe so don’t miss the next Library!
Make sure you check out last week’s Mom’s Library for even more inspiration!

This Week’s Featured Posts…

Apple Pouch Sewing Practice

What a fun and festive way to teach beginning sewing skills!

Play with Apple Dough

Made with real apples, this dough is amazingly beautiful and smells even better.

Apple Number Line

This is a great idea to use an apple paper pad for number sequencing skills and there are lots of other A and apple themed activity ideas too!

Free Apple Calendar Printables

Lot of learning opportunities with these apple themed calendars!

Dried Apple Snacks

These are addicting! I can’t wait to have a tree full of apples to make them with.

Paint, Play and Eat

3 more unique apple activities for preschool!

Apple Print Patterns

Math and art combine when using apples to make fun prints.  Use edible paint so you can eat your apples after you’re done!

Apple Scented Glitter Glue

This is so easy to make and kids love to create with glitter.  Makes your paper smell like Fall.

Alphabet Vowel Apples

I love the idea of this simple reading game for kids!

The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree Craft

A book and a matching craft, just in time for fall.

Jumping Apple Seeds

This science experiment is really fun to watch. Go check out the video!

Apple Printable Pack

This requires an email to get, but it is worth it.

Fine Motor Apple Activities

Unique hands-on activities designed to strengthen little hands.

Montessori Apple Activities

Over 20 themed activities, Montessori style.

Would you like to participate?

If you were featured please grab a button.

  

The post 15 Apple Activities for Play and Learning Mom’s Library #104 first appeared on True Aim.

I remember when I was young and my mother let me make my own breakfast in the morning. Although it seems like nothing to us now, to a 5-yr-old, getting your own cereal all by yourself makes you feel way grown up. My daughter is especially proud and if I show my face in the kitchen when she’s getting breakfast, oh no! My mother always had Honey Nut Cheerios® in the pantry when I was young. I guess it’s just an ingrained preference, but that’s what we always have in our pantry too. But I know my mother didn’t have a smart phone to help her shop for deals on cereal like I do.

That’s why I love my Ibotta App and check it before I go shopping each week. You have to try it out and get the weekly General Mills® cereal offers at WinCo. Each week from now until May 25th there will be a featured cereal of the week that you can redeem for $1.50! If you buy 5 cereals, you can redeem an additional $2.50! Cereals included in this offer are Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Chocolate Toast Crunch, Golden Grahams, Dark Chocolate Multigrain Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Fiber One Protein, and of course, Honey Nut Cheerios! Save up to $14.50 on your favorite cereals! For more information visit Ibotta’s blog.

And when my daughter’s not making breakfast for herself, she’s begging along with her brother and sister for me to make muffins. Of course I will! As long as someone helps me

I have three muffin recipes that I like to rotate through; banana, blueberry, and Apple Cinnamon. The best part is, I use the cereal that’s left over from Saturday mornings as topping for the muffins during the week.

You know that annoying amount of cereal at the bottom of the bag that doesn’t quite make a full bowl? It doesn’t split between 3 children well, but it makes a great crunch topping for the muffins.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins with Crunchy Cereal Topping

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

These cinnamon apple muffins taste like apple pie. Use your left over cereal to make a crunchy topping that makes them irresistible.

Author: True Aim

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• ½ cup Butter
• ½ cup Applesauce (Room Temp/Warmed)
• ½ cup Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Lg Eggs
• 1 cup Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt
• 2¼ cup Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp plus ½ tsp Cinnamon
• ¼ tsp Nutmeg
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 2 Medium Apples Chopped or about 2 cups
• 2 tbs White Sugar
• For the topping:
• 1 tbs Melted Butter
• 2 tbs Brown Sugar
• ½ tsp Cinnamon
• 2 tbs Flour
• ½ cup Honey Nut Cheerios® or your favorite cereal

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare your muffin tins with muffin liners or nonstick spray. Combine the white sugar and ½ tsp of the extra cinnamon and sprinkle each sprayed or lined muffin cup with ½ tsp of the mixture.
2. Next, Cream ½ cup butter, applesauce, and ½ cup brown sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl mix together 2¼ cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 tsp cinnnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. Alternate adding sour cream and the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir in the apples.
5. To make the topping, melt the extra 1 tbs butter and combine it with 2 tbs brown sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon, 2 tbs flour, and cereal.
6. Fill muffin cups to the top and add 1 tbs cereal topping to each muffin.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 24-28 muffins.

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No they don’t look that pretty with the Cheerio® topping, but the crunchy sweetness is awesome! You can use any type of cereal you want. Apple Cinnamon Chex® would be a perfect combination.

Or leave the topping off and eat them with a big bowl of your favorite Big G cereal.

$50 WinCo Gift Card Giveaway!

Do you have any favorite recipes that include cereal?  Well here’s your chance to stock up on your favorites. Enter the rafflecopter below!

Follow WinCo Foods on Facebook or Twitter!  Thanks for reading! This conversation is sponsored by General Mills® via Burst Media.  The opinions and text are mine.

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The post Cinnamon Apple Muffins with Crunchy Cereal Topping #WinCoCerealDeals first appeared on True Aim.