Homemade Apple Butter

I had never tried Apple Butter before making this recipe - and wow was I ever missing out! This stuff is seriously AMAZING! And the best part is it is so easy to make. Just throw everything into a crock pot, leave it overnight, and in the morning wake up to a delicious smelling house and something yummy to put on your toast, pancakes, or oatmeal. Plus it is way cheaper to make than buying a jar from the store and you get the piece of mind of knowing exactly what ingredients goes into it (no added preservatives needed!). It also makes a great gift around the holiday season or anytime at all really! I made my dad two bigs jars for his birthday this week :)

Ingredients:

8 apples (Feel free to use whatever kind you have on hand. I used several varieties - 4 gala, 2 granny smith, 2 macintosh)

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

2-3 sealable jars

Yield: ~2.5 pints

*You can easily double this recipe if you are planning on making a large batch for preserving, gifts, etc.

Directions:

Peel, core, and chop apples into about 1" chunks.

Place all ingredients in crock pot and stir so all apples are coated. Cook on HIGH for 1 hour. Reduce to LOW for 10 hours (or overnight); stir occasionally.

Once the apples are a rich brown color and mash easily you can do one of two things:

If you have a handheld submersion blender then use it in the crock pot to blend the apples until totally smooth.

 If you don't have a submersion blender then just scoop several cups of the apples at a time into a normal blender and pulse it a few times until you reach the desired consistency. If after you've blended you want a thicker consistency of apple butter then just let it continue to cook uncovered in the crock pot on high for 20-30 minutes so that some of the liquid can evaporate. 

Fill your jars with the hot apple butter. At this point you can preserve them with your preferred home canning method or just leave it as is and store in the refrigerator. The apple butter will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge (but I doubt it will last that long!). Serve on toast, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, muffins, scones... or just eat it straight off the spoon!