My birthday is in september, and my family would go apple picking every year at one of the local orchards, and then mom would do preserving stuff. We're not much for pie people (don't tell the future hus-beast. he'll be devastated that i will NEVER make him apple pie like mom does, but i digress.)
What we did for apples was cook them down, quartered, with just a little bit of water at the bottom of the cook pot so the bottom wouldnt burn, with the lid on, so the apples were steamed. after a while when theyre nice and mushy, put them all through a food mill (we used an "old school" hand crank one that looked like a heavy grain sieve made pointy...i'm sure yall know what im talking about) to get the peels/cores/seeds out.
then, put all of your applesauce in a big crockpot, on low heat, with a fair bit of brown sugar, splash of lemon juice (for freshness), and then general apple pie type spices--these days when i make it i use cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger if im feeling like it (but i love ginger) once everything is mixed, stir the sauce every few hours, and let it cook down overnight (we let it go about 24 hours) until its a dark auburn-y brown, and thicker than jam (but not as thick as peanut butter) and viola! you have miss amy's apple butter. (miss amy would be my mother) eat it spread thin on toast, or instead of jam/jelly with PB for a sandwich.
the other thing we did when i was a kid, was mom would use one of those apple corer-slicer-peeler do-jobs (i hate them, but most approach this tool as a godsend i have found) crank the apple through the apple CSP and then cut the apple, which has been sliced, in half so all of your slices get separated. put them in a food dehydrator till theyre nice and crispy (iirc anywhere from 4-8 hours) and you have dried apple chips.