Wonder Boy and I have established this wonderful tradition of making jam every year with the grapes from our backyard. Depending on how much we make, we use it as Christmas gifts for some combination of family, friends and co-workers. Last year Wonder Boy and I made the same mistake we make every year by underestimating how long it takes to make and preserve jam. We spent many hot hours in our kitchen making that sticky, purple jam.

This year our grape yield was nil. (It could be because we have never really pruned our grape vines appropriately…) So Wonder Boy and I were panicked about how we could continue our tradition of homemade preserves.

This year we explored making something new. Apple Butter. It was such a better experience! It is so much easier to make than jam and yields so much more as an end result. We spent half as much time in the kitchen and have three times as many jars to show for it!

We used the Ball Blue Book apple butter recipe. I cannot recommend it enough!

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.