What can I say? I’m nesting.

Apple Butter in the Crock Pot

What You’ll Need

• A dozen apples (sweet/tart mix, heavier on the sweet)
• 1/2 tsp. all spice
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Peel, core and cube up the apples. (The smaller the better because it makes them break down easier) I used a mixture of Granny Smiths and Galas at about half:half. In hindsight, I’d use 3:1 Galas:Grannys or 3:1 Sweet:Tart–ours is a bit tarter than I’d like it to be.

Peeling apples like nobody's business.

2. Put apples in large mixing bowl and fold in spices and sugar. This will seem like an enormous amount of apples… it is. BUT, it cooks down to about half the amount.

3. Dump everything in the slow cooker, add water, and cook on low overnight or for at least eight hours. Depending on what type of apples you get, some may break down more quickly than others. Ours took a full eight hours to be soft enough to make mushy and then I let them simmer in their spices overnight.

The apples cook down into about half this much.

In the morning, I put the slow cooker on high and cracked the lid open to help burn the excess liquid off.

4. Once thick enough to use as a spread, pour into blender to liquify until smooth. Jar it up, then slather on some toast, oatmeal or whatev blows your hair back.

Homemade apple butter on toast.

Again, mine was tarter than I’d like (and I even tripled the amount of brown sugar) but it tastes delicious on sourdough bread. That said, Aaron thinks it tastes just great just as it is.

Note: This recipe filled a giant jar with apple butter. While this is great if you’re planning to share with others or have an apple butter party or something, most of us will probably never use this much before it goes bad. I think you could half or even quarter the recipe to get a decent, usable amount.