Crock Pot Apple Butter is essentially pie in a jar.

I tried apple butter for the first time when it went on sale in my local grocery store & I really wasn't that thrilled with it. It was flat, lacked flavor & was eventually mixed in with some pancakes so we could use it up. Last fall I wanted to try to make my own. I had this real desire to go pick apples. I haven't done so since I was a child, & could not tell you why I wanted to last year. However we did, & I wound up making a delicious apple butter that we are still eating well into the spring of this year.

INGREDIENTS:

6 pounds of apples - this is AFTER you have peeled & cored them. (I used a mix of Spartan & Macintosh)

1 cup water & 1 cup pure apple juice (you can substitute 2 cups of Apple Cider, but it's costly).

1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (make it REAL CINNAMON if possible)

1 teaspoon of allspice (I use it because it already has cloves, nutmeg, etc in it.)

Patience. Trust me, you are gonna need it for this to come out right.

1.5 cups of white sugar.

UTENSILS:

Thin latex gloves (Apples are acidic.Acid will find any paper cut, hangnail or irritation on you. Use Gloves)

Foley Food Mill, or food processor or some type of heavy strainer

Immersion blender

Crock Pot

 

Apple butter is apparently best when it's cooked for a very long time. Every review & recipe on Apple Butter I found stated that as a fact. So I brought out my Grandma's old 1974 crock pot to do this recipe in. This was a messy & time consuming thing to make, but it was sinfully delicious when I finished. Well worth the time invested.

1. Peel & core your apples. Cut them into manageable slices for your food mill / food processor & run them through. It should be broken down & pureed when you are done. (This was the single messiest thing I ever did. Find a stable bowl to work with when using the food mill because pureeing apples = lots of arm strength)

2. Pour the puree into a six quart crock pot & stir in the sugar, water (or cider) & spices. Run the immersion blender through the mix & make sure you have a smooth & velvety mix in the pot. 

3. Cook on a low setting with the lid slightly propped up to allow for evaporation. (You want to keep splatters inside, but steam should be able to escape)

4. Stir occasionally when you can over a 9 to 12 hour period. Cook until very think & dark. (Obviously this needs to be made on a day when you will be at home. Also, this is where your patience will come in.)

5. My apple butter was a bit runny when done. I didn't add pectin because apples have their own & I figured I wouldn't need it. My butter did eventually set, but it took over 24 hours before that happened. I loved my finished product, but my husband said it was still too runny, so when I make it next time I may add a half box of pectin to ensure a firmer state of the finished product.

6. When you are done making the apple butter, be prepared to can it in a water bath as soon as possible for storing. This recipe made 14 half cup size gift jars that went out to friends & family for the holidays.

What can you use it with? Pretty much anything. In oatmeal, with cheese & crackers, on toast, or on meats. My Mom used it on the Christmas Ham as a glaze. If the half box of pectin recipe the following year turns out a better textured product I will be sure to advise it next fall.