Homemade Crock Pot Apple Butter

We have an old apple tree on the property of our community that only one neighbor and several deer make good use of it's fruit, the rest just go to waste. So this year, Bart and I decided to pick some and try our hand at home made apple butter.  I searched the Internet for hours for a recipe that I felt would be the best tasting while using the least amount of sugar.  Based on reading many recipes and recipe reviews, I choose one from Betty Crocker, and I have to say, this is the best apple butter I've ever had. This is the first time Bart has ever tried apple butter, and he loves it too.  In fact it was so good, we made a second batch and canned it, so we can enjoy it all winter long. If it lasts that long :-) 

This recipe made approx 8-8 oz jars plus a little left over to keep in the fridge

no pesticides used on these babies

Not the prettiest apples in the world, but they just needed a little 

washing off

We always want to pass any recipe we love along to you, so here ya go...

Recipe:

12 medium cooking apples, peeled and roughly chopped (you want to use enough apples to fill your crock pot. The apples from our tree are small, so we used about 30 of them)

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup apple juice

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Mix all ingredients in 5 to 6 quart slow cooker

2. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours or until apples are very tender

3. Mash apples with potato masher or large fork (we used our Immersion hand blender)

4. Cook uncovered on low heat setting for an additional 1 to 2  hours, stirring occasionally, until thick. cool about 2 hours

5. Spoon apple butter into container, cover and store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks

This can also be canned and stored up to one year. Click here for Water Bath Canning Instruction

Use enough apples to fill your crock pot

After cooking on low for 10 hours, we used our immersion blender 

to make it smooth

nom nom nom