This Cinnamon Brown Sugar Crockpot Apple Butter is made completely in the crockpot, it’s extremely easy to make as well as hassle-free!
Fall is my favorite season of the year due to the array of beautiful colors and crisp, cool weather, but also because of the variety of apples that are available for picking, eating, and canning. Apple butter is one of my favorite things to can so I couldn’t let apple season go by without making some.
If you’re like me and the thought of peeling and chopping a bunch of apples and standing over the stove for 30 minutes while they cook down doesn’t appeal to you, then you might enjoy this method as well. All you do is cut the apples up, remove the cores, and dump them in the slow cooker. You don’t even have to peel them.
Notes on Making Apple Butter in a Crockpot
I’ve made apple butter in the crockpot before, and what I’ve learned from past efforts is that it helps to core the apples. If you cook the sliced apples, cores, and all, you have a little more work to do on the back end when you run everything through the food mill.
I prefer to core the apples and just cook the sliced apples with the peels. The process is smoother not to mention quicker, when all you have to do is run the apples through the food mill to remove the peels.
I made this apple butter with Jonagold apples but you can use any type of apples that are good for canning. I’ve used Winesap, Granny Smith, and a mixture of green Mutsu and red Cameo apples with success.
Cinnamon Brown Sugar Crockpot Apple Butter
Adapted from The Joy of Jams, Jellies and Other Sweet Preserves by Linda Ziedrich.
Makes: 5 pints
Ingredients:
- 6 pounds cored and quartered apples (unpeeled)
- 4 cups light brown sugar (based on volume of cooked apples)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 Cinnamon stick, optional
Directions:
1) Wash, core and slice the apples into quarters and place them in the crock pot.
2) Cook the apples on low for 4 –5 hours, or until they are soft.
3) Run the softened apples through the food mill using the medium screen. You can also use the coarse screen, but I like the consistency better using the medium size. It takes a few minutes to run all of the apples through the food mill, but it’s kind of fun.
4) Measure the volume of the puree, and add half as much light brown sugar. I ended up with 8 cups of puree so I used 4 cups of brown sugar.
5) Stir in the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and add a stick of cinnamon. Cook the apple butter mixture in the crock pot on low until it is thick, about 3-4 hours. Then cook it on high for about 30 minutes.
6) While you are waiting for the butter to thicken, sterilize the jars and lids. Refer to the instructions at the National Center for Home Preservation.
7) After the butter has thickened, remove the stick of cinnamon, and ladle the mixture into sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace at the top. Remove any air bubbles and top off with additional apple butter, if necessary.
8) Wipe the jar rims with a clean cloth, add the lids and rings, and process the jars in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.
9) Turn the canner off, remove the lid, and allow the jars to sit in the canner 5 minutes before removing.
10) Carefully remove the jars from the canner using the jar lifter and a potholder and place them on a kitchen towel. Let them rest for 24 hours before moving or placing in long-term storage.
Note: Make sure all of the lids pop. If any of them don’t pop, place those jars in the refrigerator and use within a few weeks.
You might also enjoy some of these apple butter recipes:
Some of my goto canning references:
- Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
- The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving
- Keeping The Harvest: Discover the Homegrown Goodness of Putting Up Your Own Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs
- National Center for Home Preservation
Happy Canning!
Cathy
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