This is one of my favorite Pennsylvania Dutch classics, Apple Butter. When I was a little girl my Grandaddy Simms would take us to Apple Hill in northern California to get our Halloween Pumpkin, build scarecrows, have a sing along hay ride, eat hot donuts with cold apple cider. We would get so excited as it was for us kids, the official kick off to the Holiday Season. I would always take two jars of apple butter home and Momma would give it to us on slabs of warm butter bread or in little hand pies. I make it in honor of that golden time of childhood innocent fun. I hope that you make it and enjoy it as we did, or on roasted wedges of pumpkin, dolloped in gravy that accompanies a roasted pork or turkey meal, or swirled through a baked oatmeal.
Honey’s Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 2 kilos Cox, Sundowner, or GrannySmith apples Cored and cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Grade B Maple Syrup (the best you can find)
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ground chipotle or smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp Freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp Allspice
- 1 thumb-sized piece Ginger Fiinely chopped
- 1/4 tsp Ground cloves
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Spiced rum or Bourbon
- *Optional: 1 whole plump vanilla bean
Instructions
- Core, and chop the apples into a small dice.
- In a bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, syrup, spices, ginger, and salt. Combine all of the ingredients with the apples in the slow cooker and stir well.
- If using a vanilla bean. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and add the seeds along with the whole vanilla pod.
- Cook on high for 5 hours, stirring every hour or so.
- Take out the whole vanilla pod and puree the apples with an immersion blender until completely smooth.
- Add Spiced rum or Bourbon.
- Cook another 2 hours, or until thickened to your liking.
- Pour the apple butter into canning jars and process according to your canner’s directions. Or pack in clean sterilized jars and refrigerate and advise the beneficiary to store in the refrigerator and eat within a month.
