I bought 2 bags of cooking apples this fall and planned to make apple pies with them. Then Jeff got several bags of apples from a coworkers yard and I made pies with those apples.
Those grocery store apples have been sitting in the fridge just waiting.... and they were not getting any fresher.
So I looked up how to make crockpot apple butter to use them, and it was very easy. I used
THIS as a guideline - my way used a little more than 5 pounds of apples, peeled and chopped, 2 cups sugar, 3 t cinnamon, 1/2 t cloves and a dash of salt. It cooked on high most of the morning until the apples all broke down, I mashed them with a potato masher to help them along. Then they cooked on low all afternoon until the juice cooked out and they thickened up.
I put the apple butter in 1/2 jars - it made 7- and then put them in the fridge. They will get eaten pretty fast here. The recipe talks about freezing it and I am sure it could be canned.
and you sure don't need scented candles or potpourri when apple butter is cooking, it smells wonderful!