Alisa Fleming ~ For our last fall CSA delivery we received 2 bushels (that’s a heck of a lot more than 2 pounds people!) of little organic apples. Some were good for snacking, but I can only eat so many apples out of hand. Since many of them were pint-sized, peeling for pies wasn’t a great option. But I wondered, how would they fare, peels and all, with a long, slow cooking throughout the day? And thus, this recipe for crockpot apple butter was born.
As it turned out, the peels practically melted into the apple butter, providing extra nutrition and preventing a ton of work. At first, I referenced some crockpot apple butter recipes online, but they all called for boat loads of sugar. Why in the world would such a naturally sweet fruit need so much added sweetener? So I winged it.
I ended up adding a wee dose of sweet, just a touch really, to balance the flavors. You can go sans sugars altogether and enjoy some truly pure crockpot apple butter, or increase the sweetener to taste, if desired. I also discoverd that apple cider vinegar works deliciously when you don’t have any lemon juice on hand,
This crockpot apple butter is excellent for using in recipes (apple butter muffins anyone?), slathering on toast (I liked it with a little swirled with nut butter, too!), using as a partial substitute for dairy butter in baked goodies, or even, canning and giving as a holiday gift!
- 2 lbs chopped apple*
- 2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Place the chopped apples in your crockpot (for a mini-crockpot, halve the recipe). Add the remaining ingredients and stir to coat.
- Place the crockpot setting on low, cover and allow the apples to cook for 4 to 6 hours.
- Pour the apples into your blender (you may need to do this in two batches), let them cool for 10 minutes, and then puree.
- Return the pureed apple to your crockpot, turn the setting up to high, and cook uncovered for about 1 hour, checking in to stir every 10 minutes.
- Let the apple butter cool, then place it in your blender for a second puree. This should make it nice and creamy.
- It will keep in the refrigerator for several days, you can freeze it for later use, or can it for storage or gift-giving.
18 Comments
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Thank you for this recipe. My son asked for apple butter and it was nice to find a simple recipe that did not require special equipment and a lot of sugar. It was delicious. I am not really sure that the last hour of cooking and blending the puree again made any difference (I had a nice creamy butter after the first time I blended it). Maybe the apples I had were not quite as juicy.
Wonderful! Yes, I imagine there is some variation in the cooking based on the types of apples used. Thank you for offering your feedback that the last step wasn’t needed for you.
Can you can this?? Is there enough sugar in it so that no mold would grow? Or is it just suitable for refrigerating? It looks really good and since we have about 20 lbs of fresh apples, I am looking for something like this!
Do you mean while cooking? No mold grows while cooking; the lemon or vinegar also help with this. It kept for us in the refrigerator for several days (we eat it up, so I can’t say that it would last longer), and can be frozen. I haven’t tried canning, though.
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I bet this almost tastes like pie filling!! Looks fabulous.
Apple butter is definitely my favorite way to deal with a surplus. It’s just so easy, keeps well, and goes with/on practically everything! Plus, it also makes great holiday gifts. Otherwise, apple chips are a top snack pick. It just takes up a whole lot of space in the dehydrator, so I can only get through 2 – 3 big apples that way.
I made a batch of apple chips, too! I used the oven, but they turned out pretty tasty 🙂
where is the apple chip recipe?
I didn’t use a recipe, but will see if I can’t put one together to post!
I’ve never made apple butter, but want to try this as it seems easy enough and I love my crock pot!! Anything in a crock pot is for me!! Thank you for this delicious recipe without all the added sugar!
I never peel apples when I make applesauce, because my grandma never did. 😀
Looks FABULOUS. I love, love apple butter!
Oh, this looks SO good, Alisa! I could probably eat the whole batch straight up with a spoon. 🙂
I totally thought of you when making this Hallie – all of the nutritious peels in there and all!