If you are new to canning, this is an easy recipe to start with. All you need is a good variety of apples that are deemed worthy for apple sauce making, some sugar and spices, and a crock pot or slow cooker. Your family will love this on some warm homemade biscuits or buttered toast for a quick breakfast.
Ingredients
- 6-7 lbs Apples, different varieties (enough apples to fill your large slow cooker to the top)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup cane sugar or granulated
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup maple syrup
Directions
In a large crock pot or slow cooker place your peeled, cored, and sliced apples. Add all remaining ingredients except the maple syrup to the apples and cook on a low setting, stirring occasionally to prevent burning and sticking to the bottom. This will cook around 20-24 hours in total depending on how fast your slow cooker cooks and how thick you like your apple butter. After about 18 hours of cooking, add the 1 cup maple syrup. Use an immersion blender to blend or place in batches in a food processor fitted with the medal cutting blade or a blender to get that smooth consistency. Continue to cook on low an additional 2-6 hours or to the color and consistency you like.
I like to prepare my water-bath canner with hot water and turn this on medium heat. I also set the jars that I will be using in the canner to keep them hot until I am ready to ladle the hot liquid into them. You want the jars and the liquid around the same temperature to prevent the jar from breaking.
Ladle the hot apple butter into the hot jars and wipe the rims of the jars making sure there is no sticky residue left to prevent a good seal on the jar. Place a lid centered on the jar and top with a ring to fingertip tight. Place jars in the canner making sure the jars are fully submerged under the hot water. Bring this to a boil and process with the lid on for 20 minutes. Remove lid once done and let jars set in the water for an additional 5 minutes then remove to the counter. Let the jars set for 12 hours then remove the bands and check to make sure all the jars sealed. Label them and store in a cool, dark place.
If you would like a step-by-step guide, check out my YouTube video. Enjoy and keep canning!
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