This spiced apple butter is made in a slow cooker, which means that it is almost entirely hands off. I like to make this in the autumn and squirrel it away for holiday gift bags.
Since I was very young, I’ve been something of a collector. I figured that if having one of something was good, then having three or four was even better. As a kid, this meant that I had more pens and pencils in my school bag than necessary and felt most comfortable when I had a back-up security blanket.
In my adulthood, this propensity towards duplication has most actively manifested itself in the kitchen. I have at least two dozen wooden spoons and spatulas (when just a handful would really do), three vintage waffle irons (because you never know when one might break) and five slow cookers.
There’s no really good defense for the wooden implements or the waffle irons, but I do have a rationale for the slow cookers. My slow cooker needs often vary and so having different shapes, sizes and eras to choose from give me options.
Dips go in the mini-cooker. When I make overnight oatmeal, the 2 1/2 quart pot is best. If I’m doing a batch of blueberry butter and want really low, slow heat, nothing works better than my vintage, 4 quart, harvest gold cooker. I also have kept a basic 6 quart cooker in the rotation for a while for stocks and soups, though I must confess, it has never been my favorite.
Then there’s slow cooker number five. It joined the line-up recently and rocketed to the top of my slow cooker hit parade. It’s the Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget model, with a lid that can be locked into a place and a thermometer probe that you can use to test internal temperatures without lifting the lid and releasing the heat. It allows you to set the cook time and temperature (when the time is up, it shifts to a keep warm setting).
This time of year, my slow cookers are in regular rotation for the production of apple and pear butters. I typically go with my vintage cooker, because I know that I can trust it not to burn (older slow cookers have lower set temperatures than the newer models). However, because of its capacity, it ends up yielding just a couple of pints. As you know, most of the time I like a small batch just a little more than the next girl. During the holiday season that changes and I appreciate the option of larger yields for gift giving.
I realize now that I’ve avoided the newer cookers and their higher temperatures because I’ve never worked with one that had an auto shut-off before. I tend to let my fruit butters cook overnight. That was too much time for my brute force, either-on-or-off cooker. But having the option to set it to cook for 5 or 6 hours and then shift to warm has changed everything. I know this technology has been around for a while (my mom had a slow cooker when I was little that did something along these lines), but I’d never before experienced it. I am in love.
My fruit butter yields are higher because the new Hamilton Beach machine has a larger capacity and I’m not running the risk of burning the butter because it shuts off when I ask. I am a happy canner.
Before we get to the apple butter recipe I’ve made three times in the last month in machine, I have to tell you one more reason why I really like it. It’s that “Stay or Go” feature. This slow cooker has a lid fitted with a silicone seal that can be locked into place. That makes it an able traveler, which is terrific for a regular potluck-attender like me.
I used it to transport and serve mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving (sadly, they were the worst mashed potatoes I’ve ever made; both lumpy and gummy at the same time. But the quality of the potatoes wasn’t the cooker’s fault) and it will be pressed into travel service again soon.
The formal recipe I’ve been using for this slow cooker apple butter is down below, but here’s the narrative version. You begin by filling your slow cooker to the top with sliced apples (I got about eight pounds into my cooker, but there’s some natural variation here). You add a little water (maybe 1/2 a cup) to help things along and then you let the cooker for for four to six hours on low, until you can mash the apples into sauce.
Then you puree the heck out of the applesauce, until the skins disappear. It works best in my Vitamix, but I’ve also achieved this same effect with an immersion blender and persistence. Then you return the puree to the slow cooker (it will only fill it 2/3 of the way up at this point) and cook on low for another six or so hours with the lid slightly askew for venting purposes, until the sauce has reduced into butter. Stir in sugar, spices, and lemon zest/juice for balance. That’s it! Making spiced apple butter is so easy and makes such good holiday presents!
Spiced Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 7-8 pounds apples any varieties you like
- 1/2 to 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
Instructions
- Slice apples and heap them into a six quart slow cooker.
- Add 1/2 cup water and set to low.
- Cook until apples are tender and can be easily pressed into sauce. On low, this will take 4-6 hours. On high, it should only take 2-3 hours.
- Puree softened apples into a smooth puree (it shouldn’t be necessary to peel).
- Return to puree to slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours with the lid set slightly ajar so that it can vent.
- Add 1/2 cup sugar, spices and lemon zest/juice. Taste and add more spices and sugar, if necessary.
- Funnel hot apple butter into prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Wipe rims, apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
- When the time is up, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Let the jars rest in the cooling water for 5 minutes. When that time has elapsed, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortably handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
I like using the slow cooker to leave oatmeal cooking overnight for breakfast in the morning. Along with my coffee-maker-on-a-timer, it’s a perfect way to wake up in the winter.
Awesome giveaway… I could use a new slow cooker… I use mine frequently especially during the winter months for stews, soups, and stuff. But my all time favorite is my beef pot roast… super yummy… slow cooked for 2 days and melt in your mouth tender
I love the convenience of slow cookers, you can use less expensive cuts of meat and it will transform it into a juicy, delicious meal. Plus living in central Florida and using your slow cooker makes for a cooler kitchen, especially on those hot summer days and you want a good baked potato to go with the meal your hubby has on the grill, they make awesome mac and cheese for any occasion too!
I only have one slow cooker and I use it mostly for pulled pork or shredded beef. I love the features you listed for this one and should give me better opportunities to do other things.
I love my slow cooker especially on the days that I am homeschooling, my boys have music class, my daughter gets home and we have to eat and leave for religious school.
My favorite recipe is a creamy chicken stew recipe with chicken thighs and vegetables. I use coconut milk for the “creamy” part since my kids are dairy intolerant. So yummy and filling. Comfort food at its best.
My favorite use of the slow cooker this fall was for pumpkin butter. I almost always do apple butter but wanted to try something new this year. It’s amazing! I’ve been giving it away left and right, and eating it myself. I’ve gotten lots of positive feedback!
My favorite slow cooker use is for my Triple Ginger Pear Butter recipe, which I make every year with the glut of pears from my mom’s tree. I would never make it through pear season without a slow cooker! I often borrow my neighbor’s cooker as well so I can cook two batches at once.
My favorite slow cooker recipe is actually apple butter. Forty or fifty pounds of apples gets us through the year.
Dr Pepper pulled pork. So easy and no turning!
I love to make pulled pork in the slow cooker!
Lately my favorite use has been to make steel cut oatmeal overnight and have it hot and ready for the kids and I on a cold morning 🙂
My favorite is a tie between boneless beef shortribs and the low fat, decadent concoction my friends and I refer to as “awesome dip”
I love crock pot “Italian Pot Roast” and “Beans n Bacon”.
I love to throw in a tough roast and at dinner time have a tender, delicious piece of meat!
I have just started canning again. Helped my Grandmother when I was little. I have made apple butter this fall and pumpkin butter. I think my poor old crock pot is slowly dying! Would love to have one like this one! Merry Christmas!
I love Apple Butter! My favorite slow cooker use is for shredded beef sandwiches. So, so easy and the slow cooker does all the work!
i use it for stew and almost everything just found a recipe for bread in a crock pot
I love my slow cookers. I have an old standard and a newer auto shut off and I live by them both.
I have yet to have a favorite slow cooker use! I have owned one, but gave it away to my daughter before I used it. Now that I can like a fiend I need one!
i like how they tenderize inexpensive cuts of meat!
My all time favorite use for the slow cooker is to make homemade stock. Throw in the meats, veggies, seasonings,. put the lid on and forget it!
Sadly, I am sans large capacity slow cooker at the moment since the glass lid for mine broke and can’t be replaced. I miss it terribly and asked for a new one for Christmas but don’t think I’m getting it! My favorite use is anything for dinner that I can start before work and is ready to go when I get home!
I make a kick-ass chocolate chili that everyone loves, makes the house small sooo good and the secret is that it’s made in a 1960’s era slow cooker. Harvest gold, if you can imagine.
My worry is that it will die one day and this Hamilton Beach slow cooker looks amazing. If I win the slow cooker I will share my recipe…hint hint
We use our slow cooker almost entirely for chili. Although I found a tortilla soup recipe recently that I think will get put in the rotation. Thanks for giving me some more ideas about things to do with the slow cooker!
My favorite slow cooker use is any recipe that will have dinner ready for me when I get home from work! I most often use my slow cooker for chili. I’ve recently been enjoying chicken breasts with peach salsa that I canned over the summer–great over rice or noodles and sooo easy to throw together. I made my first ever batch of apple butter in mine this fall and it turned out really well!
I love putting a roast, with vegetables, in before I leave in the morning and coming home to dinner ready-to-serve. Plus, single pot dinners are always appreciated.
My slow cooker was a wedding present 30 years ago! I am a pork and sauerkraut girl, yum!
I love to use my slow cooker to make tomato sauce overnight, or even over the working day! Throw some tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and spices in there and voila’! Tomato sauce! I hope I win!
I use crockpots all of the time. I am a rep for Wildtree and do a lot of inhome parties to sample our yummy organic herb and spice blends (and more) I use my smaller crockpot to prepare and serve warm dips. I used my larger crock t make boozy buttery applebutter this week. The problem is my large crockpot has a hot spot and a tendency to burn 🙁 I am in need of a new crockpot badly!
I like big batches of hot drinks in my slow cooker, especially mulled cider and hot chocolate. It’s easy to add little bits of this and that (espresso, Irish cream, et cetera) when you make a big batch.
My fave thing in the slow cooker is a sweet potatoes and applesauce recipe I have. It’s so gooood!
When it comes to slow cookers, I’m very nostalgic over my mom’s beef stew. However, I think my favorite slow cooked thing is now chili. Yum.
I, too, have several slow cookers to choose from for various purposes – I have one that I use that’s larger for cooking a larger cut of meat like a brisket or pork shoulder and the other I use for chilis and soups.
Yay! I love to use my slow cookers for tons and tons of stuff, it really varies. I make awesome chip dip and it goes right in my crock pot. Pot roast, which is mainly shredded to make shredded beef for sandwiches, fajitas, or enchiladas. And finally, chocolate lava cake was made in a slow, which is the BEST! Thanks for the giveaway!
Beans!!
I love slow cookers! I use mine mostly for soups, chili, and roast. The apple butter sounds great!
I use my slow cooker all the time. It’s a cheap, cheap model but so dependable. The settings on this new one are awesome. One of the cool things I’ve done in mine is to make baked potatoes for on-the-go. You can bake them and then take them, keeping them warm. Another good idea for a potluck!
Grew up in Denmark not knowing anything about slow cookers. Now I am married to a wonderful American man and found the joy slow cookers. Our favorite meal changes as I try new recipes. Right now it is Hawaiian pulled pork. Also did not know about apple butter growing up but I love it and it most likely will be my next Adventure in the world of slow cookers. Ps I now have a US Residency 😉
I use my slow cooker to cook casseroles and soups all day so that at dinner time, we just scoop and eat.
Too many to list, but last night I made a gingersnap pot roast that was pretty fantastic.
I love a good slow cooker! It’s funny, but a few years ago I thought I hated them until I had my second child and could not for the life of me get food on the table while he was a colicky infant. That’s when I developed a deep and abiding love for it and vowed to learn to use it better. Two and a half years later, I use it almost every day in the winter and lament its loss in the summer. I use it for as much as possible, so I’m not sure I have a favorite. My slow cooker has been well-loved and no longer has handles, though the screws from the missing handles can be heard swimming around inside the casing, nor does it have any of its labels to tell you which button is what. Thank goodness I know them by heart! I would love a new one!
I like using my slowcooker to make bbq pulled pork or carnitas whenever we want that all day in the oven tenderness but we have to work that day. It’s a real convenience.
My favorite use is for soups or stew but I have just now started experimenting with other uses! I picked up an older slowcooker at a thriftshop…and use that one in my art studio to melt wax for my wax resist projects…while not food…it is very fun! 🙂
I am going to try hot cocoa in mine at Christmas…The more I use mine the more I realize I want one or two in every size!!! What a great time saver/tool in the kitchen!!!
I’m most fond of soups in my slow cooker. My son just asked me for the slow cooker apple butter recipe that my mother had so I’m planning on making some for Christmas giving with the recipe card. Love your blog!!!
I love to make a pot of beans in my slow cooker!
I broke the ceramic insert for my slow cooker last month! 🙁 I had to wait another month for Hamilton Beach to restock that part, and now I’m impatiently waiting for it to be delivered. Just prior to the breakage I had been making some delicious salted caramel apple butter for Christmas gifts.
My favorite use is to make beef brisket with carrots, onions, and parsnips. I serve it over a bed of creamy grits. My husband loves it!
My favorite slow cooker use that I just discovered this year is for overnight oatmeal. 1 cup steel cut oats, 3 cups water, dried fruit, a pinch of salt, and maybe a tbsp of sugar (depending on the fruit), set it overnight (using a smaller slow cooker crock as a double boiler works best, less chance for scorching and easier clean up). We love having a hot breakfast ready, especially my husband who works outside year round. I also love how creamy the oatmeal comes out after the long slow cook.
Standard chili gets most of my slow-cooking attention, though I’ve wanted to create a recipe for slow cooker cookies… Maybe I’ll try it some day.
Yay! I lost my cooker at a potluck last year. Need a new one 🙂