Crock Pot Apple Butter

I was craving apple butter (and pumpkin butter) the other day, and couldn't find an Instructable made specifically for this! Apple butter is basically highly concentrated apple sauce; by slow cooking the sauce, the sugar in the apples begins to caramelize, giving it a great taste and it's brown color. It also has a much longer shelf life, and to me is just as versatile.

There is NO DAIRY in apple butter; the name "butter" in the title merely refers to the consistency. Smooth and buttery. I personally crave anything with spices in it during the fall/winter months, and I really wanted something to slather on biscuits the other morning. NOMS!

So here it is. Easy crock pot apple butter! It makes a really great present, and if you learn to do canning (it's really easy too) it can last for quite some time and looks pretty when packaged up nice.

Note about apples: some apple varieties work better than others. I like a blend of tart apples like Granny Smith, Winesap, and Arkansas Blacks. Other good choices are Jonathan, Stayman, Golden Delicious or Macintosh. You may want to experiment with different varieties or blends!

You will need:
Apples; it takes POUNDS and pounds of apples to make butter. I made around 3 pints using about 10 pounds of apples.
A small lemon or two
• Table sugar (regular granulated or turbinado)
• Brown Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Pumpkin Pie spice (blend of cinnamon, ground ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom)

• Crock pot
• Surface to cut on
• Knife
• Apple corer tool (optional)
• Vegetable peeler
• Jars with sealable lids

(EDIT: I'll try to get a better thumbnail preview image, I dislike this stock image one.)

Step 1 Step One: Preparing your apples

Step One - Prepping the apples

The first step is to prepare your apples.
I used the following for this step

• Cutting board
• Sharp Knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Apple corer tool (optional)
• Apples
• Lemon

First, wash the apples. Some people skip this step since we will be peeling the apples, but I always prefer safe to sorry. Light wash it is!

After washing, go ahead and use your vegetable peeler to skin those apples. (Image 2)

Once all the apples have been peeled, chop the apples.
If you have an apple corer tool as I do, use it now.

Using the corer takes a bit of practice to get used to the process, but it's pretty simple. Place the spikey teeth of the corer over the stem/core area of the apple. Press down enough so it leaves an impression. Now press down harder on the corer, sometimes you need to twist as you do this. The corer tool should poke through the bottom of the apples. (Image 4)

On some types of apples the tool melts through like butter, such as these Gala apples shown. But others, like the Granny Smith or Arkansas Blacks are tough to rip through and might need some additional help. Anyway pull the corer out of the apple; you should have just taken out the core with the seeds.

If you don't have this tool, when you half the apples, just cut away the core and seed parts.

Once you have all the apples peeled and cored or halved, then CHOP AWAY. (Image 5)
Seriously this was the most tedious part for me - CUTTING and cutting and cutting at over 10 pounds of apples. The pieces don't have to look professional or be uniform in size, but the smaller the better. If you had a food processor, I imagine that might help this step along. (Image 6)

As you chop up all the apples, throw them in a bowl squeezing lemon over the chunks periodically. Not only will it keep the apples from browning (nothing wrong with that flavor-wise, but it's ookier to look at for awhile), but the acidity makes the butter darned tasty.

Comments

[HardwareMa.am]

This turned out great. Thank you. I am now on my second batch but am switching it up a bit and the taste is wonderful already so I thought that I would share. I switched out the sugars for 1/2 cup of natural100% maple syrup which has tons of vitamins and minerals. added the lemon juice to the syrup in the measuring cup and then added brandy until it reached the 2/3 cup mark. I didn't have pumpkin pie spice so I used crushed cloves, allspice, and ginger. I can hardly wait for it to be done as it is wonderful just as applesauce. If anyone has other ideas, I would love to know....

[Batness]

Thanks for the extras! Glad it turned out well. :) I've never though to add brandy to this...

I included what is in my pumpkin pie spice for people who don't have the spice as a pre-made mix! A lot of people don't have access to it in that form, so I'm glad you were able to make your own!

Be careful if you use maple syrup in the mix if you want to can the butter; the sugar cooking with the apples is part of why the mixture is safe to can. Maple syrup won't work the same way. It's actually pretty low in minerals (not compared to sugar I guess) but it is high in zinc though! :D

[mguer133]

Maybe this is a cultural language thing but how id this butter and not jam?

[Batness]

The name "butter" for this is based on the consistency and texture of the finished product. Fruit butters are a type of jam. It's like saying it's not a jam but a conserve or a marmalade. Slight differences. :)

[whisperonthewind]

I don't toss the peel until the apples are mush. I leave them on. They eventually come off and you can just pull them out. I also don't add any sugar, just use sweet apples, whatever is first within my eyesight at the store. I do add cinnamon, lots of cinnamon, but nothing other than apples and water and cinnamon. When it's done, it's all I can do to wait until it cools. I bought my crock pot for apple butter, and that's all I've ever made with it, in 10 years!

[Sherlock69]

My apple butter didn't past the "apple sauce" stage :-( I followed the directions left it in the crockpot for a few hours, then put it thru the food processor and left the lid off and it never really "broke down" into butter. And it didn't darken at all. Where did I go wrong???

[Batness]

Did you add all the ingredients in a good ratio? I did my first batch by "eyeballing" measurements, and so if you used more or less apples by volume, it could require different amounts of say, sugar. That will add to the "brown" color.

ALSO I've discovered the hard way that different crock pots have different heat values...my smaller crock pot gets VERY HOT even on the "warm" setting! Try turning up the heat if you can on the pot, or try cooking it longer (the lid on is fine if it hasn't browned up at all).

Make sure to keep an eye on it; last time my batch didn't brown up as fast as I wanted, I turned the heat WAY up and then left it for too long; it was almost un-usable. :P If this doesn't work you can try cooking it in an actual pot over the stove at a low-medium heat temp. That requires way more attention, which is kinda why I wanted to use a crock pot; just dump in the ingredients and walk away. :)

[HardwareMa.am]

Good to know, thanks again. I haven't made enough to warrant canning so for now I'll give it away and keep it in the frig. Will get ahold of county extension services and see what they think about canning it when I do. They might have suggestions. I'll try the pumkin butter next, but alas, work is cutting into my fun!

[tocsik]

Howdy, I just bought a slow cooker the other day. I was wondering if it was possible to start out with applesauce rather than apples?

[Batness]

Yes you can! I have used applesauce; it was a pretty good applesauce from the start. Nothing but apples in it, that's always the right start.

50 oz. of unsweetened apple sauce is about the same as 2-3 lbs of apples. I use a lot less lemon when using applesauce as the base. :D

[tocsik]

awesome thanks.