Apple butter is a beautiful wonderful comfort food. Slathering it on top of my husband’s fresh made bread with some salted butter and the combination is wonderful. This recipe is Grandpa approved. Made with real apple cider vinegar, cooked low and slow so that the apples’ natural sugars caramelise, and then canned to wait for you to devour later in the year.
Crockpot Apple Butter
- 5 pounds of apples, green or the green/red mix, cut in quarters
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg’s “with the mother”)
- 2 cups sugar*
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
* Up to 4 cups of sugar depending on how sweet you like it. 2 cups will result in a semi-tart apple butter.
Combine all ingredients into crockpot. Set on low and cook overnight, a minimum of 8 hours. Stir in the morning or after 8 hours; the apples should be fully cooked at this point and practically dissolve together.
Stir until mostly combined, and taste for sweetness. Add extra sugar as needed. Cook until the apple butter is the colour of cinnamon with the crockpot uncovered to allow extra liquid to dissipate and is as thick as desired (can be an additional 2 hours).
Once fully cooked, in a separate bowl, strain the apple butter mixture through a mesh strainer, using a whisk to allow the puree to fall into the bowl. If you find that it is still too thin or liquid-y for your preference, after straining, cook on low in dutch oven uncovered. It should thicken much faster than the crockpot. Discard the dry pulp. Enjoy on toast with butter, in baked brie, or on ice cream with pie cookies as a makeshift apple pie a la mode!
Laughter and Cooking 