Spiced Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Slow Cooker Chronicles

October 26, 2011 at 7:10 pm
by Irina Gonzalez

After my coworker Heather made some delicious unsweetened apple sauce in her slow cooker, I wanted to do something similarly delicious. I had heard of apple butter before and decided that I wanted to try making it, since it’s such a classic dish.

After picking a bunch of wine sap apples at Demarest Farms on a fall weekend trip with friends, I knew it was time to try making it. The only problem? I didn’t want to have to sweeten it with any sugars. Luckily enough, I found a healthy recipe that I then adapted by adding some pumpkin spice.

spiced apple butter on bagel

The apple butter came out so well, I immediately had to put it on a bagel as a snack. This is how it all went:

wine sap apples

After washing them, the apples looked good enough to bite into. But I had better plans…

chopped wine sap apples

Cutting them up and putting them in my slow cooker!

spices on wine sap apples

Then topping them with my not-so-secret ingredients, like cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

slow cooking apple butter

I set the slow cooker for 16 hours and headed to bed.

halfway slow cooking apple butter

In the morning, about halfway through, I could tell the apples were getting cooked.

finished slow cooking apple butter

After coming home from a day of work, I opened my slow cooker and was struck by the delicious aroma of the baked apples. They’ve been slow cooking for 16 hours and were now ready to cool.

food processed apple butter

After cooling, I divided them into two portions for my not-quite-that-big blender. Then I combined them in my trusty tupperware, but not before taking a nibble first. Okay, I admit it: I also licked the spoon.

spiced slow cooker apple butter

Spiced Slow Cooker Healthy Apple Butter (adapted from Eating Bird Food’s Healthy Homemade Apple Butter)

Yield: 6 cups
Prep: 20 minutes
Slow Cook: 16 hours on LOW

Ingredients
8 medium apples (I used wine sap)
2 cups of water
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp sea salt

Directions
1. Cut your apples into 1-inch pieces and throw them into the slow cooker.

2. Add water and then all of the spices and seasonings on top.

3. Set the slow cooker for 16 hours on LOW.

4. Once done, let the mixture cool for about 30 minutes.

5. Pour into blender and blend until well done. Then serve and/or store!

Do you like apple butter too, readers? What would you have done differently? Do you use any sugar in your version? Share int he comments below.

 

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