Slow Cooker Apple Butter
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This Slow Cooker Apple Butter is an old fashioned, treasured recipe made easier in the slow cooker. Once taking hours to achieve caramel-colored apple butter, the slow cooker does the work for you.
The limbs of the apple trees are becoming heavy with fruit, shiny and beautiful red globes of sweetness.
I couldn’t help stopping our car on the country road leading back to my parents’ house to capture the apple tree laden with fruit.
When apples are ripe for picking — there are a million ways to enjoy their sweetness. Apple cakes and crisps, fritters, pies and tarts, muffins, breads, and scones.
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
While apples are delicious in many things, apple butter is a sweet treat that stands alone. Almost like a category unto itself.
It’s cozy and homey, invoking life as it used to be. It reminds me of my grandmother’s apple butter, so sweet and cinnamony, I can still taste it, warm from her kitchen.
While it does take hours to make, using a slow cooker makes the process so much simpler. So easy, in fact, that it almost makes itself.
It can cook for hours on your counter, sweetening your day with its fragrance, or you can let the slow cooker work its magic overnight and wake up to an incredible aroma in the morning.
Honestly, it’s a little bit addictive. In a very good way.
Apple Butter History
Abundant with apples, colonial Americans looked for ways to preserve and enjoy the fruit. Well into the 19th century, apple butter was a favorite standard.
The term “butter” refers only to the thick, soft consistency and is used most often as a spread for bread and toast, but also as a side dish, or as an added ingredient in baked goods.
The Pennsylvania Dutch often include apple butter as part of their traditional seven sweets and seven sours dinner table array.
More Apple Recipes
A Favorite Fall Classic: Slow Cooker Apple Crisp
Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Maple Glaze
Old Fashioned Baked Apple Cider Donuts
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
An old fashioned sweet condiment becomes a late summer and early autumn treasure. Slow Cooker Apple Butter couldn't be easier.
Ingredients
- 10 large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cut apples into 1-inch chunks and place in a 6-quart slow cooker along with the granulated sugar. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6 hours.
- Stir in 1 cup of brown sugar, cinammon, cloves, nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook on LOW until the apples are soft, about 4 hours.
- Using an immersion blender or stand blender, process the apple mixture until smooth. If you're using a blender, secure the lid, remove center piece to allow steam to escape. Then place a clean towel over the opening and blend until smooth.
- Cool completely and refrigerate in air-tight containers for up to 1 month.
Notes
How to Serve:
Apple butter is wonderful served on toast or English muffins, as a condiment to chicken or pork, or even on deli sandwiches. Try it with your next turkey sandwich!
Apples:
I love to use a combination of apples that include; Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Gala
Making Apple Butter Overnight:
Place all the ingredients into a 6-quart slow cooker, cover and cook on LOW for 10 hours, or overnight. It's a wonderful aroma to wake up to.
After 10 hours on LOW, uncover and stir. Cook until the apples are very tender and the mixture has thickened and becomes dark brown. Process the apple mixture with a blender or immersion blender until smooth. Cool before refrigerating or freezing in air-tight containers.
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