Berry Good Time

This is what I did on my Friday and Saturday night. I read Lera's tales of the goodness that is blueberry and strawberry butter several days ago. And I knew immediately that I needed to make a batch myself. I knew I would be able to get the strawberries on the way cheap - one of my local dollar stores sells the normal size bags of frozen either plain strawberries or mixed berries for a buck. I don't drive out that way often but it was worth it for big shopping bag of berries. This entire project, including the jars, came to about $15. I figured it out and I spent about $1.00/jar. Cheap, easy, fun and yummy. I made 12 little baby jars and one and a half big pint jars.





The recipe requires very little effort but a whole heck of a lot of time. It took me about 25 hours, start to finish. But about 24 hours of that time I did nothing. The crockpot did all the work for me. Also, the recipe had me scared out of my mind that it would splatter to the high heavens. Mine didn't even splatter on the lid. I took each bag of frozen berries, cut a slit in the top, and popped them in the microwave individually for about a minute or two to soften them up. Then food processed each bag while the next was in the microwave. Easy peasy. I was hoping the stunning red color would last but alas, in the end it is a reddish version of an apple butter color. That deep reddish brown. The flavor is just this incredibly intense strawberry flavor. I doubled the recipe and only used about a 1/4 of the sugar. I figured I could always add more but I judged correctly. Once cooked down, it is only about 1/2 of what you start with. I didn't need more sugar. Perfection! Oh and I don't need to tell you how amazing my house smells after having strawberries cook for 24 straight hours!!