How To Make Apple Butter

Have you ever wondered how to make apple butter?

I have an easy recipe to share with you.
It starts with apples, but not just ANY apples.

My recipe calls for my 2 favorite kinds of apples – Honeycrisp and Granny Smith.

In my humble opinion, the best place to get apples is to go apple picking.
A few years back, well quite a few years back, I went on my last apple picking trip with my daughter.

Before she turned 18 and decided I no longer existed.

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We had such a fun day.
Of course, we made sure to concentrate on the Honeycrisp trees.
She was so darn cute, climbing trees, and even picking thru the ones on the ground if she accidentally dropped a perfect apple.

Oh, my heart.
The apple of my eye, with one of her best picks.
And a petite pick.
The wee apple is so cute, just like her.

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It was such a gorgeous day to spend with my loverly daughter.

Once we picked the best apples, only the BEST apples, we took a quick wagon ride over to the pumpkin path before we made out way home with our treasured bounty of fresh picked Honeycrisp apples.

So what do you do with bushels of apples?
Ohhh, all kinds of things!
Let’s start with the easiest one, apple butter with honey.

Yummers!
Apple butter is fabulous on waffles, toast, even a buttermilk biscuit.
Dip your fruit in it, topping for pie…
There are so many ways to use apple butter.
Mix a bit with Greek yogurt for fruit dip.
We had better get things moving, because now I am craving apple butter!

Of course, you can always grab your apples from the local farmer’s market or the grocery store.
But apple picking with your darling daughter and spending the day with her is such a wonderful way to get your apples.

Are you ready to make apple butter?

Grab your crock pot because we are going to make this easy to make.

Here’s what you need to get started:

You may have noticed that I used coconut sugar instead of regular white sugar.
Here’s a bit of info that tells more about what it is and how it is different.

I like to use it as an alternative to white sugar.
Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index so it is a bit better for you.

It is important to note that I am not a doctor, nor a dietician.
I just happen to like the taste of coconut sugar when I need to splurge on something sweet.

Remember that moderation is key to any type of food, sweets or otherwise.

Back to our apple butter.

The other spice I added is mace – not the kind of mace you carry on your key chain.
It’s a spice similar to nutmeg and accents apples quite nicely.

You can substitute apple pie spice instead of cinnamon and mace.

Wait til you see how easy this is!

Once you have gathered all your ingredients.
Start by peeling and cutting your apples.

Once they are cut, toss them in your crockpot and sprinkle with your 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and 1. tsp of mace.

Next, squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon on top of the apples.

Then top it with your cup of coconut sugar [or white sugar] and 1/2 cup of honey.

You may have noticed that my honey isn’t smooth – that is because it has crystalized.

There is nothing wrong with crystalized honey, and I love to use my crystalized honey when baking.

Once all your ingredients are added, all that is left to do is to secure your lid and turn your crockpot to low for about 6 hours.

After about an hour, I will stir it.
See how the apples are already starting to cook down?

It smells SO GOOD!

Check your apples after about 4 hours and give them a stir if needed.

I just let mine cook til the outsides were caramelized.

They apples look a little dark, it’s the caramelization of the sugars.

If you like yours lighter, you can always cook for less time.

Then either use an emulsion blender or throw them in a blender and blend til smooth.

The picture doesn’t do the apple butter any justice, but trust me it tastes SO GOOD.

Once the apple butter is nice and smooth, add it to your favorite sealable container.

The apple butter is so easy to make.

Wait til you see what my friends put together for Another Loverly Blog Hop – Apple Picking.

We are going to start with the most incredible hostess, who loves to throw AMAZING beach side parties, Leslie from My 100 Year Old Home.

How adorable are these mini apple pies in ball jars that she made?
You can get the recipe here or by clicking the photo.

And if you think that is amazing, check out what my other friends have created.
Excuse the pun, but check out them apples!

I hope this inspires you to head out for an apple picking adventure.
What is your favorite apple picking story?
I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Check out the Link Party for more loverly apple inspiration