I’ve always loved teaching.
When I was a young girl, I used to play school with my stuffed animals and any friends that I could trick into being a student in my class. I made an Attendance List (the students didn’t always show up on time!) and I taught math, writing, art, and deep life lessons from a 4th grader.
Turning to my stuffed duck “Quackers”, I would often say, “Quackers, why were you late for school this morning? I’m going to have to see you after class today.”
Sighing, I marked a big “L” beside his name.
“Jonathan and Annabel, please stop talking while the lesson is being taught.”
”PLEASE STOP TALKING CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANNABELLLLLLLLLLL”
It wasn’t always roses and puppy dogs.
While I didn’t end up becoming a teacher, I do like to pretend I’m one on the blog. I also know when you’re skipping class!
But today, I’d like to be the student. And I think you can help…
I’m on a fruit butter making kick.
Earlier this week, I made my beloved pumpkin butter in a slow cooker and turned out wonderfully.
I’ve been spreading it on everything and mixing it into oatmeal. As soon as I see sugar pumpkins at the market, I will be making pumpkin butter from fresh pumpkins later this Fall.
After my pumpkin butter success, I decided to make apple butter. I’ve never made it before, but I absolutely LOVE it. I researched about 10 different apple butter recipes, trying to decide the best way to make it (there are a lot of methods!). I decided to go with the most popular apple butter recipe on All Recipes with 5 stars and 525 reviews. Although, without the 4 cups of white sugar…
I added fresh ginger, ground cloves, cinnamon sticks, 1/3 cup Sucanat, and a 1/4 cup of apple juice instead.
Then I bought 5 pounds of local, sweet apples!
It took me just 10 minutes to peel 5 pounds of apples. Not too shabby!
(That picture only shows half the apples)
I diced the apples. I added cinnamon sticks, fresh ginger, apple juice, ground cloves, and a touch of Sucanat.
Mix in slow cooker:
I heated on high covered for 1 hour. I waited.
Then I turned the heat to low, still covered, and cooked for another 15 and 1/2 hours. I waited. I may have slept.
I came downstairs hoping to find thick and dark apple butter, but no such luck. I think it’s somewhere in between applesauce and apple butter right now!…
I’ve been cooking it on medium heat, uncovered, for a couple hours so far this morning.
And I’m praying for a miracle.
Anyone have any words of advice for me? Did I make it all wrong?
I hope it turns out for you! I have never made apple butter before so I can’t give any advice, but I definitely give you points for trying! :)
I just found eatingbirdfood’s healthy recipe for apple butter. http://www.eatingbirdfood.com/2010/09/healthy-homemade-apple-butter/
She cooked the apples sliced with skin on for 15 hours on low with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, spices, and water. Then she let it cool for a bit and blended it in a blender.
Hey if you want it smoother maybe just put it in a blender! It looks yummie to me!
I can’t offer any advice on the apple butter since I don’t have a slow cooker, but can I just say that i am SO happy to hear someone else played school as a kid??? We had rows of school desks set up in our basement, in fact! I of course, was always the bossy teacher. Obviously you can relate :-) I never became a teacher either, but I did remain bossy.
OMG! My daughter’s name is Annabel, spelled just the way you wrote it……I’ve only ever seen it one other place (a children’s cookbook writer named Annabel Karmel). It made my whole day to read the blog today!
I have made apple butter many times and never use any sugar of any kind. I cook the apples with a touch of organic, unsweetened apple cider and cinnamon, cloves and all spice and I cook it on the stove. Once it is soft and cooked all the way through, I blend it in the vitamix and strain through a mesh to get out chunks if I want it to be smooth and creamy. Then I can it in jars like jam and it turns out perfectly every time. Getting ready to make apple butter again very soon as my friend has an organic apple orchard right down the road. Yours looks divine, I must say! :-)
OMG!!! I have to make this. I have a surplus of apples and this is the answer :)
Awesome post!
how long will these last in the fridge? the pumpkin butter looks just as yummy!
When I made slow cooker apple butter, I first cooked the apples to soften and then ran through a food mill and made applesauce. (I left the seeds & skins on, the food mill will whisk them away!! So much easier than peeling.) I then added sugar & spices to the applesauce in the crock pot and cooked all day. The pre-smoothed product made for more surface area and faster cooking, I think. Kind of like the pumpkin has already been cooked once from its raw state & blended. Yours looks to be the right color, though!
I made this yesterday using your sugar subs and Allrecipes spice combo- and it took forever but it is fantastic! Thanks for the inspiration – I didn’t even know you could make apple butter in the slow cooker! I’ll definitely be making it again..
I’ve done apple butter quite often too, I also don’t add any sugar, just spices; cinnamon, cloves, maybe some nutmeg. I find the secret is to use a variety of kinds of apples, if able. I do applesauce first, on the stove, then I put it in the slow cooker overnight on low with the lid ajar (that’s so it can evaporate). It’s always worked perfectly! :)
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I haven’t had apple butter in years and since fall is a few days it only seems right to whip some up :)
I am making apple butter right now with apples from our family tree! I am using a fusion between of a recipes off pinterest for slow cooker apple butter and yours! I reduced the sugar b/c I don’t like very sweet. Any tips? I hope it goes well.
Gosh, I love the smell of fall :)
Awesome Idea…I am new to your site but can’t wait to check it all out. Great Work!
I found this recipe for Slow Cooker Pear & Apple Butter while perusing the Martha Stewart website. It made me think of this post. Would be interesting to try…. *hint hint*
http://www.marthastewart.com/326858/slow-cooker-pear-and-apple-butter?czone=food/comfort-foods-center/comfort-foods-dishes&backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/slow-cooker-recipes
Thanks I will check it out!
I just posted my second trial in another comment on the 3rd page of my steel cut oats post if you are interested :)
Haha, I used to play school in the exact same way!! I would also FORCE my little sister and best friend to be students often.
I am a grade 7/8 teacher today :-)
I made sugar free apple butter this year for the first time, after getting some advice from professional apple butter makers. I added arrowroot into the cider/juice before adding it to the apples and cooked it for 24 hours. You can check it out at seasonalfamily.com if you’d like! But I’m sure even thick and lumpy like the above picture would taste delicious! How can you go wrong with spices, apples and a little bit of natural sugar.
The apple butter looks delish! To get it nice and thick for the last few hours prop the lid open a bit to let the extra moisture evaporated out. I’m making apple butter this year to give away at Thanksgiving to all our guests! mmmm
Two reasons I can see that yours took so long to thicken.
First… you used all sweet apples. Most sweet apples have much more moisture than their tart counterparts… so the person who commented that it is best to use a mixture of types of apples is partially right… just make sure the majority of apples are tart. I use 10 Liberty, 10 Cortland and 5 Gala. (Gala being the only sweet choice)
Second, you used liquid versions of your sugar substitutes. Remember that apples are mostly water already, so as you cook them… even without adding a drop of liquid… you will have an inch or two of pure liquid at the bottom that has to cook out. By adding more… it has to cook longer. There is no harm in it cooking longer if it is in a crock pot as it should never get hot enough to scorch. It would be difficult to make your recipe over the stove as it gets hotter and will likely scorch before the water ever cooks out.
I’m sure it tastes amazing even if it did take an entire day.
I also use the tip that another comment mentioned… prop the lid up after the first 6 or 7 hours by placing wooden spoons across the pot and setting the lid on the spoons. This leaves some room for the steam to escape and get some of the moisture out.
Good luck.
Thank you!
I live in Australia, I have never, ever heard of Apple Butter?! What is it?? It sounds amazing.
I assume the apple butter is ready by now :-) For what it’s worth: the sugar you left out (so would I!) does the trick so maybe you would need to use a thickener like psyllium?
Your apple butter is looking lovely! I always start with making apple sauce on the stove top. I place apples (peeled and cored) in a large heavy sauce pan along with about an inch of water. I cook it on high until it really boils and then back down to medium with the lid on, stirring occasionally until they are cooked through. I then blend and transfer to a crockpot, I add spices desired, some orange zest, orange juice and sweetener. I cook for 12 to 16 hours on medium with the lid tilted or resting on some butter knives.
Thanks for sharing, Mary!
I am having the same problem…did you figure it out
I actually made apple butter for the first time yesterday. Pretty much the same recipie you used except I went with the sugar ;) after you show cook it for 12 hrs you need to use a blender or hand held blender to smooth it out.
I am new to making apple butter, but from my short experience I’ve learned these things…it does take several hours in a slow cooker and I have 2. When I cook a batch in each at the same time, I will have an apple sauce consistency in one and huge chunks in the other all because one gets much hotter on low setting than the other. Of course the slower unit will eventually cook them down. But some units just get hotter faster even if both are set on low. Also some apples cook up better than others. Cortland apples cook up perfect. This year, I couldn’t get any, so I’m cooking Cameo apples. They are a little chunkier, but I like the texture. Cooking with lid ajar, or off at the end, will help it thicken up. Now. I’m going to try pumpkin butter. Thanks!
I had the same problem with my first batch last year.But I found the cure !!!!! It tasted great but was runny and I followed a recipe that had hundreds of rave reviews. After putting it in jars and doing the water bath, when it cooled you could actually see the separation of juice at the bottom : (
I was very unhappy! I made a double batch of runny sweet tasting goop that would run right off the edge of my toast.Not good.
I looked at bunches of recipes online and after about 4 hours of mind bending internet reading I found the cure (at least it’s worked for me now 2 years in a row) !
I had been coring my apples before cutting into pcs. I found out the core area around the seed actually contains a natural chemical that works like pectin!
I made the next batch the same way as the first but left the cores in. After I cooked apples down into a mushy consistency I removed the apple mush and ran through a sieve attachment on my food processor to remove any seeds or course pieces from core. Then I put back in crock pot and cooked on low for another eight hrs without lid .
It came out thick dark and delicious. No more running off my toast or peanut butter sandwiches ! It was a little more work, but well worth it.
OOPS,forgot to mention. After simmering for eight hrs put a couple TBSPs in a bowl and let chill in fridge until cool then test consistency. This will show you what your gonna end up with and let you know if you need to simmer longer. It will always be runnier when hot.
Hope this helps.