Making Crockpot Apple Butter

I remember eating homemade apple butter as a kid and thinking that it was the best thing. Ever. Let me tell you, it is!


I've always assumed that making applesauce and apple butter would be a laborous task, that wasn't really worth the final effort. Part of my 2009 Goals, we wanted to get atleast 3 months of food stored up. This includes everything from jam/jellies, to vegetables, to meat, to grains and everything in between. Over the past few weeks I've bought 3 bushels of apples and jumped right in!

To make apple butter all you need is:

• Apples
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Sugar

You need to peel and core your apples before placing them in the crockpot. To make this easier and faster, I used an apple peeler, corer and slicer thing. Similiar to this one. I filled my crockpot all the way to the top. The amount of apples will vary by the size of crockpot. This is so vague, but I used about a Wal-Mart bag full, or a ¼ bushel.

Once my crocpot was loaded, I added 2 cups sugar, roughly 2 Tbsp Cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg.

Put the lid on and cook on low for about 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours. You can stir it around if you want to (I couldn't resist), but you do not have to. When it is done, the apples will cooked through and will look somewhat like applesauce.





If your mixture is a little runny still, remove the lid and let cook for roughly another hour.


Put mixture in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Yum! This will keep in your refrigerator for up to 2 months. If you want to can it for long term food storage follow the water bath canning method and can pints for 10 minutes, quarts for 15.

Homemade apple butter is better tasting, lower in sugar and more frugal than the store bought version. In addition, when you are cooking it, it serves as a whole house air freshener!

This post is linked to :

• Tackle it Tuesday
• Frugal Friday
• Recipe Swap.