Slow Cooker Cinnamon Apple Butter {Recipe Redux}

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Recently, Peter picked up a bag of honeycrisp apples from a nearby warehouse club. He was so excited about finding his favorite apple variety, we barely made it home before he bit down on the first delectable fruit.

And almost spat it out. That horrified face will remain etched in my memory, to emerge at times inconvenient for relaxation. Like 2 am.

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I’m not sure where this warehouse club gets its apples, but they should ask for their money back. They’re not terrible, exactly. Just bland. Eating one is kind of like biting into a chunk of Styrofoam, or perhaps one of those granola bars that are so pumped full of isolated vitamins, they taste like a laboratory.

You’d think that with such a vision as Peter’s what-is-this-awfulness? face hanging around in my memory, I wouldn’t buy those apples again. You’d be wrong.

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I wanted to mark Peter’s return from a long, difficult weekend of travel with a bushel (so to speak) of treats, including some of his favorite apples. I must have been thinking about something else when I bought groceries this past weekend (perhaps an ambiguous recipe name), because I ended up with an obnoxiously large bag of the exact same apples.

Well done, dietitian for people-beasts.

What to do with five pounds of apple rejects? At this point, they’re only good for cooking.

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When I read this month’s Recipe Redux theme, I knew I had found a solution.

Some of us grew up on casseroles out of a slow cooker – but now home cooks are using that same slow cooker to roast a chicken, bake bread, make homemade yogurt and for other creative dishes. Show us how you are using the slow cooker to craft a new healthy recipe.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

What says Fall more than apples and cinnamon? This apple butter recipe is one of those back-to-basics, toss-everything-in-and-forget-it recipes that I love with all my kitchen-shortcut-loving heart (and here’s another unnecessary hyphen for good measure: – ). Serve warm over yogurt or cold over toast. Or eat it straight from the slow cooker with a spoon.

Not that I’m saying I did this.

Slow Cooked Cinnamon Apple Butter

  Prep Time: 10 minutes

  Cook Time: 8 hours

  Keywords: slow-cooker apples

Ingredients (2 cups)

  • 8 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, ground
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until apples are tender. Use a masher to break up any pieces. Strain through a sieve to remove any lumps, if desired. If a thicker butter is preferred, cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened.

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13 Comments

  1. Funny that you bought the same apples again! I’ve bought things we didn’t like again by accident before…

    The apple butter sounds wonderful! I’m making stock in my slow cooker right now, but I think apple butter will be next! 🙂

  2. How resourceful! I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried apple butter but it sounds like the perfect thing for a cozy day…especially when it’s combined with cinnamon! Yum yum 🙂

  3. I made some maple apple butter this past weekend so good! Apple butter is always a goo choice!

    1. Mmm, that sounds really good!

  4. I get so sad when I see honeycrisps, on the rare occassion, and they end up tasting horrible. However, this is a great use for them! I am kind of obsessed with apple butter but have never made it, love that it’s in a slow cooker so I will be trying this out.

  5. Oh my, sorry to hear about the honeycrisps! You’re not alone…. these apples here at the big groceries are terrible and soft. At least they don’t contain GMO, but they aren’t the best lookin’ so we hardly buy them. Well done, Jessie, slow-cooked cinnamon apple butter sounds so much better than these apples! I don’t eat honey, but I would love to try it with maple syrup or agave or that awesome “apple-honey” syrup, “BeeFreeHonee.”

  6. Poor Peter, I bet he was so excited to taste some sweet local deliciousness, and then…bland. Ugh, that’s the worst. But it looks like you found something great to do with them. The slow cooker is awesome for those foods you just don’t know how “to fix”.
    P.S. I’m making your sweet potato banana “ice cream” this weekend. Do I really not need almond milk in there???

    1. No almond milk necessary! Let me know how it goes 🙂

  7. I know, it’s NOT funny to pick up tasteless apples that look so beautiful. I’ve thought of asking for a refund too! But you make lemonade/applesauce out of lemons/apples…well you know what I mean. (:

  8. I made apple butter this year for the first time. I did it in the slow cooker with about 7lb of apples and 2c of sugar and lots of spices. It turned out really good and it’s very sweet, like a jam.
    I let them cook for at least 12 hours in the slow cooker and then I used the immersion blender to make it super smooth.

    1. Using an immersion blender is a really good idea!

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