Apple Butter

This apple butter recipe is an excellent way to use up all those extra apples that you bought at your local orchard or picked from your own trees. The apple butter is dark and delicious. Just be careful with the sugar. The sweetness depends a lot the the type of apple you use. A good idea is to just add 1/2 the sugar and then add the remainder depending on taste.

Ingredients

5 pounds apples – use a variety of sweet and tart apples
2 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Peel and coarsely chop the apples and then place them in a food processor. Process to remove the lumps and then place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix  1/2 the sugar and then all the cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well. If you want, you can add a 1/2 cup of apple cider to just get the process started.

Cover and cook on high 1 hour.

Reduce heat to low and cook 10 to 12 hours, stir occasionally to avoid any scorching and taste test for sweetness. Add more sugar as needed. Cook until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.

Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.

Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze. This will keep if frozen for at least several months.

For more apple recipes here at Traderscreek – apple recipes