Last month I used my slow cooker aka the crockpot to make a batch of homemade apple butter. It’s REALLY easy to make your own plus you can control how much sugar you want to add! Once you have it made…you can refrigerate it (for a few days), freeze it or can it using a water bath canner. I like to can it for use throughout the winter season.
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First things first…get the apples! We have an apple tree in our backyard. It’s a baking apple variety. I like to pick apples from the tree and mix-in a few Gala apples that I pick-up at the Farmer’s market. I think combining the two balances out some of the tartness you can get by using baking apples. Just my 2 cents on that!
Peel and core the apples. Chop them into 1/2″ to 1″ chunks. Place them into the slow cooker crock-pot with just enough water to cover them. You don’t want to add a slew of water! As the apples cook down they make even more liquid (juice), so only add enough water to cover them. I turn it on high for the first hour and then turn it down to the low setting for an additional 2 hours. You need the apples to be soft and squishy once they’ve cooked.
I use a slotted spoon to scoop out the apple chunks transferring them to my Ninja Blender. Don’t transfer any of the water! Fill up the blender container and blend until smooth. Pour the water out of the slow cooker. Transfer the smooth apple mixture (basically unsweetened applesauce) back into the slow cooker. Add granulated sugar (to taste) and ground cinnamon (to taste). These amounts vary depending on your taste buds and how many apples you used. Stir everything together and place the lid back on top.
Turn the heat setting to medium or high. Every 30-45 minutes stir the mixture in the crockpot to keep it from scorching or getting too sticky. You’re basically cooking it now to evaporate out any remaining liquid and to thicken it up. You also want to it darken-up in color, so don’t add any fruit-fresh or lemon juice. This process takes me about 2 hours to complete. It’s done when you can get it to MOUND UP on a spoon.
You can spoon it into small freezer containers, let it cool and then freeze or you can follow your water bath canner’s instructions to can it. I personally can it using small jars in my water bath canner processed for 10-12 minutes. You can check out my Home Canning Apple Butter Recipe on the blog.
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