Apple Butter
This slow-cooker apple butter is like deep, dark gold, it’s so intensely flavorful. Use a sweet-tart mixture of apples, like Honeycrisp, Cortland, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith. The effort to peel, core and slice all of the apples is going to pay off…you can use a melon baller to remove the cores. Orange blossom adds a beautiful flavor note with the apples. Swirl a spoonful into your oatmeal, or spread the butter on something toasty. It’s also delicious with pork, and the best eaten straight from the (Weck) jar.
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 7 pounds apples, cored, peeled and sliced
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons orange blossom water
Instructions
- 1
Place the apples in a slow cooker and set the temperature to low. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves and salt. Pour over the apples and mix until all of the apples are coated.
- 2
Cook on low in the slow cooker for 10 hours (total time is 12 hours),stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
- 3
Stir in the vanilla and orange blossom water and cook another 2 hours uncovered to release more of the moisture and further thicken the apple butter.
- 4
Puree the mixture in a blender or in the pot using an immersion blender.
- 5
Spoon into clean jars and cool. Cover with lids and refrigerate or freeze immediately—we have not canned for pantry shelf-life. The apple butter will keep for at least two weeks in the refrigerator.