Apple Butter and other horrors

I'm experimenting with these home canning recipes to make for Xmas gifts. The apple butter was an amazing hassle because I tried mashing cooked apples through a collander instead of using the food processor. I looked up other recipes that require no collander mashing and discovered spicy apple chutney and apple marmalade. I made a batch of chutney last night. I'm a little worried about whether it turned out the right consistency. It didn't get as thick as jam, and I haven't used a lot of chutney to know what it's supposed to be like. Haven't tried the apple marmalade recipe, but the advantage of that one is that it has few ingredients and doesn't require fruit pectin like most jams or jellies do.