Apple Butter

Image: 8 ounce oval shaped ramekin filled with cooked apple spread

Description: Apple butter is a great fall spread on toast, used in baked goods, eaten straight from the crock pot, and has a myriad of other tasty uses in the kitchen!

Yield: Recipe makes 8 cups of sauce (32 – 1/4 cup servings)

Instructions:

Use a spice grinder to grind up the mulling spice. Add all ingredients into slow cooker. Stir. Cook on High setting for roughly 6 hours.

Halfway through cooking, blend this cooked apple mixture using either an immersion blender or a standard blender to get a smoother consistency. I used my Vitamix Blender and was able to blend all of it down in 2 separate batches, making sure not to overfill the blender each batch.

Add the final blended mixture back into the slow cooker for the remaining time on high setting, stirring every 30 minutes or so until it condenses and has a nice brown color. Depending on your crockpot, If after 6 hours of cooking the mixture still seems a bit too liquid-y, continue cooking in one hour intervals until more of the liquid has evaporated and you get the desired consistency.

Serve immediately. If storing, allow to cool completely, then transfer to airtight container. Use within 5 days if storing in the refrigerator. Will keep for a month or more if store in the freezer. If freezing, allow to thaw for 30 minutes at room temperature before using.