Day 275.
Finally! I made apple butter! You can stop emailing me now!
ha ha ha. :-) thank you.
Thank you for pushing me to make this. This beats the lid off of store-bought apple butter.
The Ingredients.
--apples. 14 large apples fit in my 6.5 quart crockpot--2 tsp cinnamon
--2 cups white sugar (see note below)
--1 cup brown sugar (see note below)
--1/2 tsp cloves
--1 T vanilla
The Directions.
This is a 2-day process. Quarter the apples and take out the core. I did not peel, and picked out the skin later. If you enjoy peeling, or have one of those cool apple tools that peels easily, you should peel.
Although my picking out the skin later idea worked, it was kind of a pain. But (for me) it was easier than peeling all of the apples by hand.
Put all of the quartered apples into your crockpot. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
When the cooking is done, mash the apples with a fork. Pick out the skin with the fork. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves.
NOTE: I think this was too much sugar. It's good, and my kids really like it, but I feel I went too heavy with the sugar. Next time I will use 3/4 cup of each kind. My mistake came from reading other recipes that called for 3 cups of sugar, instead of going with my gut.
Cover again and cook on low for 6 hours. Pick out more apple skin. If you prefer your apple butter to be velvety-smooth, blend with an immersion blender, or blend in small batches in a traditional blender. I did not do this.
The Verdict.
Very very good. Very sweet, but the sweetness did mellow after a night in the refrigerator. This made enough for 3 jars of apple butter. We gave a container to my mom and grandma. It tastes wonderful with peanut butter on an apple rice cake.
mmm.
70 comments:
It may be better than store-bought, but the kind I buy has no added sugar. I wonder if that's possible in the crockpot.
Brenna, it absolutely could be done with no sugar! I wish I had spoken to you earlier---I did not come across a recipe with no sugar, and wouldn't have thought to make it without.
if you do it with no sugar, will you let me know?
xoxo
steph
This is very similar to the recipe I use except I never thought of adding vanilla extract to it. I used clean pasta sauce and taco sauce jars since it will keep in the refrigerator for a few about a month (not that it lasted that long...LOL). The remainder of it I put in freezer containers. I found that my recipe calls for too much sugar too. I prefer a tarter apple butter.
Just a note, you can also use pears for this or a combination of apples and pears.
I start out the same as you, leaving out the sugar though. After the apples cook down I blend it smooth, and add a bag of caramels, turn heat to high and leave the lid off to help it thicken.
It is soooo yummmy! We either have it on toast or warm it up and serve it over vanilla ice cream.
I love apple butter in the crockpot. It makes my house smell like fall. :) I don't usually use as much sugar as the recipes call for either. If you have sweeter apples, you may not even need to add it. I've made pear butter this way before and it was SO good!
Love this recipe it looks wonderful, a perfect thing to make on a chilly fall day and I bet it makes your house smell great! Leaving the apple skins on until after cooking has the added advantage of letting all the wonderful nutrients that are in the skin infuse your apple butter thus making it more healthy. Not to mention you don't have to peel, I hate peeling!
My girlfriend and I just made and canned a large batch of apple butter in the crockpot! We added 1.5 cups of sugar to a 6 qt crockpot full of (sweet) apples and felt like it was way too sweet when we were done. I think the sugar added really depends on the sweetness of the apple.
I wish we'd thought to add vanilla extract, though. We did cinnamon, cloves and sugar. SO GOOD.
that is kind of cute looking!!!
I'm going to Trax Farms today and they have the BEST apple butter. I really want to try this. Although I can't get enough of the old standby PB&J, some apple butter with peanut butter sounds scrumptious.
I just did this for the first time last week and it was fabulous. My technique, gleaned from a post on chowhound:
*Peel and slice apples and layer in crockpot.
*After a layer or so, throw in a handful of brown sugar (or mix brown and white) and a sprinkling of nutmeg and cinnamon.
*Continue to the top. Turn on high. Stir every once in awhile.
*Stir in a heaping tablespoon of grated fresh ginger (this was a fabulous addition).
*As it starts to cook down, continue to add layers of apples, etc. Continue to do this for the next hour or so until you can't pack anymore in.
*Turn to low and cook for the rest of the day. Take the lid off and turn back to high at the end, stirring frequently, if you want it to thicken up more.
We canned ours-got about four pints out of a 6qtcrockpot. You could do it without sugar but I'd taste it to see...to me, part of the appeal of apple butter is that it's almost caramelized tasting (otherwise, it's applesauce! lol).
Also great on a pork tenderloin, or with grilled cheese and dijon mustard sandwiches.
I'm so going to have to try this! My hubby loves apple butter, and loves homemade things even more!
thank you for this recipe. I think my husband and kida would enjoy this. Im undecided about if I would like it or not.
I've never done apple butter in the crock pot (or ever, come to think of it) but I really think I should try it - this looks delicious.
I never knew that apple butter didn't have butter in it. I am going to make this with some splenda instead of sugar. It sounds awesome!!
I grew up on Apple Butter and Peanut Butter sandwiches!! What a "Blast" from the past! Thanks. A Lot!
And for the truly lazy:
one large jar of unsweetened applesauce and the added spices will cook up fabulous and leave your house smelling great.
I am wondering if I were to make this recipe, would I be able to can the leftovers. I Love apple butter but my husband isn't a fan. I would love to try this recipe, it just seems to much for me at one time. Please email me, m_c_vega@yahoo.com and let me know some more details. I would appreciate it.
I LOVE apple butter! Thank you for this recipe. I can't wait to try it.
This is great!! I want to make this for Christmas presents. I don't can so can someone give me ideas on how to freeze it. Please!! And how long would it last in the fridge? Thanks!!
This sounds delicious. I'm going to buy a big bag of (local) apples and make some! After that, applesauce!
i've never had apple butter but i dont understand how this is any different from regular applesause...?
I recently came across blog and absolutely LOVE it...mainly, because I am the worst cook about anything that needs to be "stirred constantly" or just monitored in general. :o)
Ok, getting to the point of this comment... what kind (type) of apples did you use?
I think I will try this just to smell up the house!! I doubt it will come close to tasting like the kind sitting in my fridge now that was homemade by my mother in a kettle over an outdooor fire in East Tenn. I am spoiled by her apple butter and never buy it in the store.
Ahh, definitely that time of year...I just canned a dozen 1/2 pints of it last week. So easy & oh, so good. I love the freedom you have to experiement. I ended up adding a little bit of molasses to mine at the end because it just needed 'something'. That was it! Yum!
Glad you tried it!
Do you ever use the Crockpot liners to help with clean up?
I have made this apple butter in the past without any sugar and I think this is very, very good. My 34 year old son loves it, too.
I just want to add that I love your blog but I wonder what will happen on day 366???
What a cool blog! I just found you and think it's great, I'm adding you to my cooking blog roll :)
My Hubby loves apple butter, I might have to try this one!
You have to try caramel apple butter. Mmmmm.
I was wondering what kind of apples you feel works best?
Hi there,
I don't know if they work the best, but what I used were half fuji apples and half green.
--steph
All of my friends and I have been discussing 2 things lately -
1. apples - they are in season here in Holland
2. crockpots - for the 1st time, they're selling them in kitchen stores here!
So, it's funny I find your blog and the first post I read is for apple butter.
I've lived in Holland six years. My Mom sent me a 6.5 quart Rival crockpot as my first Christmas gift here. It cost her over $100 just to post it. I had to buy an adapter to get it to work here. But, it's so worth it!
I'm about to buy a 3 quart one at my local kitchen shop. It'll cost about $100, but I need a smaller one for everyday use.
Being Celiac, my biggest success in the crockpot has been gluten free stuffing at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a huge hit and no one thought it was gluten free.
I forgot the funniest thing about the crockpot my Mom sent from the US.
It has a typo! It says "Keep Werm" istead of warm. :)
The traditional recipes call for some cider vinegar. I always did mine in the oven, the batches were too large for a slow cooker. Margaret
* You can leave the skins on and puree the a'sauce before making the a'butter. I just use a stick blender.
* Re canning: Find a canning specific recipe. You have to be really careful with canning. I've successfully frozen a'butter.
I make and bottle a large batch of apple butter every year. If you peel and grate the apples first you can get a lot more in the crockpot. I use between 25-30 apples and about two cups of sugar. I cook it in the crockpot all night and bottle it in the morning. Delish!
a quick and easy way to make the apple sauce: Cut apples in half, removing only the stems. Simmer in a large pot until mushy. Then put through a Foley food mill. You have just a bit of waste. and really no work.
So wait...did you really cook this for 14 hrs?
So wait...did you really cook this for 14 hrs?
awesome! i am going to make a few batches & give as holiday gifts!! i love to give homemade food stuff.
How big are the 3 jars that it makes
Make the applesauce with skins on. When apples are soft, push the whole batch through a food mill. Whatever is left in the food mill, puree the heck out of it in a blender and add it back into the applesauce. The apple skins have a lot of fiber, good for you, and pectin, too, a type of fiber. When you add the skins back in like this, the applesauce is much thicker, and will mound up, instead of being thin and watery. Perfect for apple Charlotte. Thick applesauce makes into apple butter faster, as there is less water to evaporate.
Drop your brown sugar, the Apple butter will not be quite as dark and not as sweet. Also too it is very difficult to make it without sugar and is not legal to make without a certified kitchen and canning process.
I'm trying apple butter in the crockpot this week. I'm making mine with apple juice instead of sugar and canning it. I'll be posting about it on my blog in a few days if anyone is interested.
www.theamericanhomemaker.blogspot.com
Not legal to make it without a certified kitchen and canning process? HUH? Who's checking? I am making this tomorrow, guarantee I'll be canning it.
Now, I went onto Google and looked at canning pumpkin butters, it really scared me! I have always canned apples. Not so sure I would take a chance on canning pumpking butter!!
I'm going to try making it with splenda, DH is diabetic.
I cooked the apples overnight last night. The house smelled wonderful while we were sleeping. I added the splenda this morning and the spices. It will be put on tonight when I get home early from work. I didn't add much splenda, I used Sweet Sixteen apples that I picked at an orchard in Sioux Falls, SD. They were plenty sweet already.
So I made this last night without sugar. I used 4 ginger gold appless, 1 cortland & 1 teaspoon of cinnamon overnight on low in the crockpot (I left out the other spices so my son could eat it). I blended it in the food processor. It's yummy!
I've never made apple butter before. I'm not sure I've ever eaten it before, either, but this recipe looked too good to resist!
I made a batch last night and this morning (using Empire apples) and just had some on banana pancakes for lunch - so good! I did use half the sugar as you recommended and the apple butter was still plenty sweet, almost like jam.
Love your blog - and I love that the recipes are all gluten-free! I don't need to substitute out the wheat ingredients usually found in so many recipes.
Always remove the seeds by coring your apples. Apple seeds contain the poison,cyanide, which your body can only process in small doses. Children and seniors are much more affected by the cyanide.
This turned out so well for me!
I did not peel the apples; I used about 1/2 cup honey and a scant 1/4 cup molasses instead of sugar; and I added 1/2 tsp ground ginger. I also accidentally ended up adding quite a bit more cinnamon later on (I meant to just add a sprinkling more, but the shaker lid on my jar came off and dumped a WHOLE lot in! I scraped out what I could, and left in what I think was about a teaspoon). After it was done cooking I did small batches in the blender to deal with the chunks of remaining skin.
It is so delicious! Many thanks for the recipe.
I just made this last night and made the 6.5 crockpot, I only used 1/2 brown sugar and it is plenty sweet enough, I think it depends on your apples....ohhhh caramels that sounds good.
When i make this I add a can of apple juice concentrate instead of any sugar. It tastes good and I can it. It's high acid enough.
My husband and I have enjoyed this receipe soooooo much. We went out and bought one of those new fangled "apple/corer/peelers" and it makes the prep a snap. Traveled to the mountain apple country yesterday for more apples - making apple butter again today. Great for gifts! (We cut the sugar to 3/4 cup & it's delicious).
jrnana, I'm so jealous of your apple corer-slicer thingymabob!
I'm glad you liked this.
xox
steph
This was SO delicious! And made enough to give away plenty. My hubby has a peeler/corer/slicer gadget, too, so I got 13 apples done in about 10 mins. (while feeding my 20 month old too!) And just for informational purposes - if you end up cooking the apples/sugar/cloves/cinnamon longer than suggested in the recipe, say even 2 hours b/c you dear hubby forgot to turn the crockpot off while you were at work, it doesn't ruin it at all! ;)
This was AMAZING! I made it today and I love it. I added some nutmeg, cut the white sugar to 1 cup and the brown sugar to 3/4 cup. Perfect! Thank you for sharing!
You can cook the apples with the skins on then just force them through a sieve/fine colander. Most of the skins should stay in the colander. Use a spatula or small bowl to force the pulp through. As for canning, a plain old boiling water canner should work fine. Apples are a high-acid food, so they don't require pressure canning. Boiling is sufficient. I did it with my husband's grandmother, and she says that a regular pressure canner brought up to 5 pounds and turned off works the same as boiling water canning and is much quicker. She's done it that way for years, and it's perfectly safe. Just like anything else, you should wait about 24 hours and check for a seal. Once the jars seal they will keep for a year easily. If you have one that doesn't seal, either reprocess it or stick it in your frige and use it first!
I love your blog and am so glad I found it!
Jessica
I make my applebutter with apple cider and a touch of honey (maybe 1/4 C to 1/2 C for 3-4 quarts.) It comes out sweet and still a bit tart. I've never made it in the crockpot, but I am thinking that it would be super easy to do it this way overnight and then process in the morning while I brew my coffee:)
I am able to combine 4-6 different kinds of apples for a bushel when I pick, so I try to use a variety. My applesauce turned out great this way! Same for the applebutter.
I made an initial batch a few weekends ago, and then two this weekend! My hubby loves it! I got brave and canned some last night, because I want to give it as christmas gifts. Worked well. I made a batch-and-a-half, and it canned 4 pints, with a half pint left over in the fridge for the hubby to enjoy! Now, I have to hide the pints for Christmas from him!
Gave away our last pint of apple butter today. Can't wait to make more. This receipe is absolutely the easiest, and so delicious. The hardest thing will be finding the jar sealers/caps.
I've got this working in the crockpot now so that I can use some of it in an apple butter spice cake for thanksgiving tomorrow!
A Pinch of baking soda, and a pinch of salt will make this taste 'sweeter' for those who happen to be diabetic, as I am.
You can also make this with pears. I just core them, leave the peel, and cut the sugar. CUT THE SUGAR!! They are wonderful and have actually become our favorite of the "butters."
I made this last night and am eating it on a biscuit as I type. I used about 9 cortland apples in my small crockpot. I only used a tablespoon of each sugar with the other spices. It had the consistency of applesauce, so I used my emulsion blender in it for a few minutes. It's nice and smooth and to die for!! My house smells great, too :)
I currently have your recipe for Broccoli and Three Cheese soup in my crockpot. I also bought all of the ingredients for your "A1 and Dijon Steak" and your "3 Packet Pot Roast". I can't wait to eat dinner this week :) And.... I'm only down to the B's on your alphabetical recipe listing.
Thanks so much!
I've never had apple butter, but I was intrigued and made this, cutting back the sugar to a total of one cup. Absolutely amazing!!! Thank you so much for a fabulous recipe!
I'm making this right now and just tried a taste and oh my gosh it's so good! I used 3/4 cup of each sugar like you recommended in your note and it was perfect!
I can't wait to put it on biscuits!
My Mom used to make a rather complicated, work intensive stove top version when I was a kid. I HATED stirring the apples every 15 minutes... We had a bumper crop of apples this year and when I ran across your recipe I was there! Just finished making and bottling 4 batches of this and LOVE it! I used 3 different apples and since my reds were super sweet I only added a half cup of brown sugar. It turned out great. I will NEVER do this on the stove top again (sorry Mom....)
I used granny smith apples, 2 cups white sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves. Wonderful!!! I processed 5, 1/2 pint jars in my canner for presents then made another batch for me.
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