I made an apple butter last night and I wasn’t fully satisfied with the results. I looked up my old crock pot recipe and decided to combine the two. If I use the right proportion of lemon juice to apples to keep the acidity high, I should be able to can these, right? I’m using Dutch because it’s early in the season and because I made great freezer apple butter with Dutch apples last summer.

part I:

Ingredients

Apples, 12-14 medium or 10-12 large (fill crockpot about 3/4 full)

1 Tablespoon vanilla

Directions

Peel, core, and quarter apples. The option exists to take out the peels later, after cooking, but I had a hard time doing that because the finished product was so thick.

Place apples and vanilla in crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until apples are very soft.

After cooking, mash apples with fork or potato masher.

Part II:

Ingredients

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 Tablespoon molasses (optional)

Directions

Cover again and cook on low for 4-6 hours. If you like your apple butter smooth (I do), blend with an immersion blender.

This was very thick and flavorful. Serve on bread, graham crackers, or in place of the jelly on a PBJ. More ideas? Add comments, please! I’d love to hear them.