This is one of the recipes I decided to test out with my apple picking haul from Millstone Creek Orchards in Ramseur, NC. This orchard was such a fun place to go and they had a lot of other things there besides just apples! They even had fresh made-to-order apple cider donuts! Ugh, they were SO GOOD.
This apple butter is literally the easiest thing you can make in your slow cooker. I was under the impression that apple butter contained actual butter which in fact, it does not! I guess you learn something new every day!
Apple butter is ideal for gifting because you can put it in a cute jar, wrap it with ribbon and attach a cute label. Plus its cheap! Besides the apples, you probably already have the other ingredients in your pantry already. Win!
I start with peeling and coring the apples. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND purchasing an apple slicer/corer tool for this recipe and any recipe you have to slice apples for. It’s a huge pain to try to do it without the tool, and so much quicker this way! Then I just combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.
Once it’s mixed up, throw it in the crockpot on low for 10 hours or on high for 5 hours. Sometimes I leave mine on overnight, other times I start it when I get home from work and it’s done before I go to bed. It makes the house smell SO GOOD! You’ll want to devour it by the time it’s ready!
Once it’s done cooking, the amount shrinks down majorly and looks like this:
At this point, all you have to do it put it in a blender to get the right consistency. I don’t have a large regular size blender, but I do have a Ninja blender for smoothies and that worked perfectly. The consistency is a bit soupy at first, but once you refrigerate it or cool it, it thickens up.
My favorite thing to spread this on is a cinnamon raisin english muffin, but the possibilities are ENDLESS! You could put this on a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich, you could spread it on a fresh buttermilk biscuit, serve it with sweet scones, I could sit here for 20 minutes and list off more ideas! Just make it already!
Crockpot Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 4 lbs fresh baking apples, such as honeycrisp or fuji
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 dash salt
Instructions
- Peel, core, and slice the apples and put into a large bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix to combine.
- Pour mixture into an unlined crockpot and cook on low for 10 hours or high for 5 hours.
- Blend the mixture to get the correct consistency. Refrigerate.
