Crock Pot Apple Butter

Apple season should definitely equal apple butter. I've tried a few different recipes and methods for this through the years. My grandmother's is really good. But it calls for apple cider--I can't get that. I ran across this recipe here.  It was super easy to just throw it all in the crock pot and let it go. Especially if you have an apple peeler/corer/slicer thing! It made about 8 cups or so of apple butter. I didn't can it, though that would have been fun. I just shared most of it! If you don't have a crock pot, you could do this on the stove top in a fraction of the time. Just make sure you cook out a lot of the liquid but keep it from burning on the bottom! This would be a totally fun, inexpensive Christmas gift for friends!

Crock Pot Apple Butter
6.5 lbs (~3kg) apples
1 cup white sugar
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tbs ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs vanilla (opt)

Start by peeling, coring and slicing all the apples. Place prepared apples in a crock pot. Mix together sugars and spices in a separate bowl, then pour over apples and mix well.

Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours. Uncover, stir in vanilla and cook for an additional 1-2 hours (uncovered).

Working in batches, puree cooked apples in your blender until smooth. Store in fridge for up to a couple weeks or freeze.

Notes: I used a combination of different apples, some green and some reddish. I forgot to put the vanilla and you can't tell there is anything missing! I probably only cooked mine for 8 hours and then an additional 30 minutes to an hour uncovered at the end.