I won't deny it: I'm a simple tool. But I'm a simple tool with 12 pints of apple butter in the fridge, waiting only to be decanted into sterilized jars and sealed. The apples are Pink Ladies, one of the only things about which I disagree with Gina Mallet. She finds them too sweet, soda-pop apples; I find them, sweet, and tart, and floral, and citrussy, with an ovoid shape that amuses me and a dreamy pink skin that catches my eye and doesn't let go. During the winter, when I make apple butter in quantity, I like to make both a batch of dark apple butter, the traditional kind full of cider and brown sugar and dark spices, and light apple butter, with not much more than apples and sugar, maybe a little lemon juice. Having eaten all the Pink Ladies I brought home for pie, I wondered if I could capture their tart brightness in a light apple butter. Dear friends, I think I just may have.
As for the eggs: no, they have nothing to do with apple buttering. I just think they're beautiful. 