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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.

basket of apples | a loverly life easy apple butter recipe

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.


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.

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

Yes, my darling daughter is sticking her tongue out at me

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:

1 apple butter apples
  • 4 large granny smith apples
  • 4 large honeycrisp apples
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp mace
  • 1 cup of coconut sugar
    [ can substitute white sugar]
  • 1/2 cup of honey
  • pinch of salt

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.

coconut palm sugar | apple butter recipe | A loverly life


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.

coconut sugar apple butter recipe

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.

mace is a spice similar to nutmeg

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.

apples for apple butter hoeycrisp

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

cut apples crockpot

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

lemon squeeze

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

crystalized honey apple butter

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!

easy apple butter DIY | cut apples

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.

easy crockpot apple butter

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!

This-Dear-Casa-Baked-Apples
This Dear Casa – Baked Apples
Blue Sky at home - Apple crostata
Blue Sky at Home
Apple Crostata
Cottage On Bunker Hill Apple Wreath
Cottage On Bunker Hill
Apple Wreath
FeetUnderMyTableAppleDumpling
Feet Under My Table
Apple Dumpling
IKORNCRAFTS - APPLE SIGN
Ikorn Crafts
Apple Swag
Midwest Life and Style - Apple Fritter Monkey Bread
Midwest Life and Style
Apple Fritter Monkey Bread
Our Tiny Nest - apple cinnamon french toast casserole
Our Tiny Nest
Apple cinnamon french toast casserole
Shop at Blue - Apple Cobbler
Shop at Blue
Apple Cobbler
easy crockpot apple butter
A Loverly Life
Easy crockpot apple butter

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


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18 Comments

  1. Oh, I’m in love with this recipe. I love that you shared sweet memories, too. I will be trying that coconut sugar and all of those great ways to use this recipe. Thanks, as always, for putting all of us together for this hop! You are valued greatly, my friend!

    1. Thanks Leslie, I am going to try the coconut sugar in my chocolate chip cookie recipe and a few others to see if it bakes the same as white sugar.
      Let me know how you like it!
      And thank you for joining the hop.

    1. Thanks Jen! Crockpots are just the easiest way to make so many dishes.
      Thank you for joining the hop this week!

  2. I’m definitely going to try this! Thanks for sharing about the coconut sugar; I’m going to look into that too. Finally, thank you so much for organizing this hop!

    1. You are most welcome, Anne! I appreciate you joining the hop this week!
      The coconut sugar really yummy, I hope you like it!

  3. Juliet, I don’t think I’ve ever had apple butter, but this looks so delicious. Perfect to spread on a muffin or pancakes in the fall. Thank you for sharing and hosting this Apple pick in’ party.

    1. We really need to be able to smell some of these recipes…I am hungry just looking at them!

  4. Such a sweet day to share with your daughter. I hope you two reunite soon! You must miss her a ton.
    Thank you for your hard work organizing this hop & us helping newbies navigate the tech!

    1. Thank you. Unfortunately, I fear my daughter is lost. One of the tragedies of divorce. The mother gets little credit for making their child a priority and when dad finally comes back in to their life and spoils them, mom gets pushed aside. I miss her a TON. It will be almost 5 years that she has been gone.

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