Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Using a slow cooker makes fall cooking a breeze, so we’re starting with my Slow Cooker Apple Butter! This apple butter is naturally sweetened with coconut sugar and perfectly spiced with fall spices. You’ll want to hoard all of the jars for yourself after just one taste! This recipe is gluten free and vegan. 

Apple picking was one of those bucket list activities that has been on my mind for years. Every time fall rolls around, I start dropping hints to my husbands that this is the year I’m actually going to go do it.

Well, hello Fall 2017, you truly are the year I did it! I packed up my toddler and my mom and I drove over an hour to an adorable orchard in the middle of nowhere. We picked two giant pecks of apples (um, holy crap that’s a lot of apples). I realized I absolutely love Cortland apples for their sweet-tart taste, beautiful striations and white interior. Then we rolled on home. {scroll down to see photos from our adventure!}

After the buzz of fulfilling my apple picking dreams died down I was left staring at a million pounds of apples! Let’s dig in.

I started with Slow Cooker Apple Butter.

Using the slow cooker makes this recipe SO easy. You just throw everything in, walk away, then fiddle with it a bit when it’s done and then you’re set! Voila! You have Slow Cooker Apple Butter!

A few tips: I used the KitchenAid Spiralizer attachment for the easiest, fastest peeling, coring and slicing ever. No joke, I tackled a cool five pounds of apples in minutes. Just choose the blade that is for the thick spiral and large core (it’s labeled for apples in the manual) and attach the peeler too. Done.

I also decided to sweeten my apple butter with coconut sugar! Instead of CUPS of white sugar and brown sugar (which is just more white sugar with molasses), I swapped in a cup of coconut sugar. The sweet but deep taste of the coconut sugar does the job spectacularly and keeps things on the natural side.

And then the spices! You can go absolutely nuts if you like spicier apple butter, but I found that this mix of spices is just perfect for me. Your result is a truly deep fall apple butter taste, but nothing too spicy and off-putting (careful with the cloves!). Just be sure to add the vanilla in AFTER it’s all done cooking, ok?

And lastly, apple butter is supposed to be smooth. Like butter, get it? So I used an immersion blender right in the crock pot until my apple butter was smooth. You could go the blender route, transferring everything into your blender and blending until smooth (make sure you remove the plastic stopper in your lid and put a towel over the top, to let heat escape), but I wanted to save an intense dishes step. Then I just jarred it all up. I left some notes on canning in the recipe section, so make sure you read those.

Ready? Let’s make Slow Cooker Apple Butter!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Recipe by Melissa @ Treats With a Twist
Yields 6-8 0.5L jars

INGREDIENTS
5 pounds of peeled, cored apples (I used Cortland)*
1 cup coconut sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. allspice
pinch of nutmeg
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

METHOD
Place all of your apples into your slow cooker. Sprinkle the coconut sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg on top of the apples (everything EXCEPT the vanilla). Turn the slow cooker to low and cook for 9 hours. Stir once sometime after half-way through the cooking time (this isn’t a huge deal, if you happen to be available to give it a stir, do so).
After the cooker is done, add the vanilla then use an immersion blender to blend the apple butter until smooth.
Divide the apple butter into small jars. Let the apple butter cool before sealing the jars. Place any jars you won’t use in the next 1-2 weeks into the freezer.

NOTES
*Use whatever apples you like best, preferably a sweeter variety.
I used the KitchenAid Sprializer attachment to quickly peel and core my apples. I chose the blade with the large core and spiral cut, so my apples looked like giant slinkies when they were done.
If you’re not using a sterile canning technique (I didn’t) then use up any apple butter that is in the fridge in 1-2 weeks. If you don’t think you’ll use it quickly, store it in smaller jars. You can store jars in the freezer for a year.

 

My other favorite APPLE recipes are this one…and THIS one! And this one too…

Here are a few personal photos from our apple picking adventure! And yes, you can definitely see the Bump now!

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