Simple Apple Butter Recipe
- Nov 19, 2024
- 4 min read
Try this Simple Apple Butter when you have extra apples, no peeling necessary!
Apple Butter has been a staple in my household, and my childhood home for as long as I can remember. My Dad absolutely loved apple butter (I'm guessing this came from his PA Dutch roots), and this recipe brings me to such a nostalgic place...enticing my senses and making me want to butter a piece of homemade sourdough and slather it with a thick layer of this delicious treat. I'm excited to show you how to make a very simple Apple Butter, using your crock pot and just a few additional ingredients! This simple apple butter recipe s great because you can start it in the morning, and finish it in the evening. (full printable recipe below)
Fall is apple season, and when you have some spare apples (maybe 10-12 of them), you can make a nice sized batch of apple butter! I really like using Fuji apples in this recipe, but any firm and slightly tart apple will taste really good. My recipe starts at the 5lb mark, but you can adjust it to more or less accordingly. That's the neat thing about recipes...you can make slight changes to suit your needs and your taste buds! The original recipe I had called for double the sugar amounts, but I prefer to not make it overwhelmingly sweet, so my recipe is modified to reflect that. So here's what you do:
After washing your apples (and I do prefer to use organically grown apples because the peels stay on for this recipe!), simply remove the cores & seeds, and chop them into cubes.
Next, get out your crock pot and set it on the lowest setting. Add your apples and water, cover it with the lid, and set the timer for 10 hours. This is not only convenient because you can leave it and go about your day while the apples soften and bake, but you won't believe how amazing your house will smell after a few hours!
You can open the lid and stir a couple times during the day if you'd like to, but it's not really necessary
At or around the 10 hour mark, it's time to get out your immersion blender and turn the cooked apples into a puree. Just be careful as the apple liquid is super hot and you don't want to splash it and burn yourself!
Now here's where you get to make a choice...you can cook the remainder of the time in the same crock pot OR you can transfer the mashed apples to a heavy stock pot and finish it on the stove. I like transferring it to a pot because I find I can get it to the right consistency faster this way.
Add your aromatic spices at this time...the cinnamon and the cloves are what really make Apple Butter have its unique flavor.
Stir your mixture every 5 minutes or so while cooking over a medium-low heat, covered. I like to use a spatula and keep the apple butter from sticking on the bottom of the pot. You will notice the color darkens as it cooks, and the consistency gets thicker. I set my kitchen timer in 5 minute increments, so I don't forget to stir regularly, and it usually takes about 30-40 minutes to get it to that perfect Apple Butter consistency.
Once you feel like you've got the right thickness, it's time to turn off the heat.
Now at this point you can jar it and refrigerate it, and it will usually keep that way for about a month. You can also freeze it like this, and that should last 3-4 months. OR you can water bath can it and that should keep for 18+ months. I like to give these little jars as gifts, so I will can most of them and save them for gift baskets.
Water Bath Canned Apple Butter Here's the steps for basic water bath canning. Be sure to change the processing times depending on your elevation. This information can be easily located online or in a canning book!
Water bath canning is very easy to do, just remember a few simple tips. Always leave about 1/2" headspace in your jars before you put on the tops, wipe the tops clean to get a good seal, get your water to a rolling boil before you add your filled jars to the pot, make there is about an inch of water covering the jars when they're in the pot...and be careful not to burn yourself. Lower your jars into the water, and allow to process at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the water for an additional 10 minutes then carefully remove them and place on a kitchen towel to completely cool, which can take up to 12 hours. Within a few minutes of removal from the water, you will hear little pops and that's the lids sealing down.
Once cool, check each jar to make sure they are sealed. Any unsealed jars should be refigerated and used within a month. For the sealed ones, you can either remove the rings or leave them on...add a label, maybe some decorative ribbon or twine, and share the gift of Apple Butter with your friends and family! ENJOY!
Kim's Apple Butter Recipe Thank you for visiting Enchanted Botanicals
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