Apple Butter is about so much more than the apples. Made in a slow cooker, Homemade Apple Butter, spiced with cardamom, allspice and cinnamon, is a wonderful treat on a cool autumn day. The process of making it is so simple, fragrant and delicious that it just might turn into a treasured family tradition.
More Than a Recipe
Apple Butter is one of those recipes that is about so much more than the apples. What makes my ears perk up at the mention of Apple Butter has little to do with the flavor of autumn. It is not about an interest in canning. That is something I have never tried. It’s not even about making a low fat spread to smear on hot biscuits or toast. While these are all good reasons to pursue the ultimate recipe for Apple Butter they are not mine. What causes me to smile at the thought of Apple Butter is my great great uncle Hal.
Uncle Hal grew up in the rural hills of southern Indiana over a century ago. His father died when he was just a boy. Without a father Hal had many responsibilities to take care of at home. As a result, his education was spotty after the fourth grade. Even so he was a keen observer. He had a quick wit and he told a good story.
Despite his lack of formal education, Uncle Hal was eventually persuaded to write his memoirs at the urging of his daughters. What he wrote for them was a beautiful legacy. He penned one hundred and sixty two handwritten pages filled with wit and wisdom. In time my grandmother received a copy of his work. Many years later, my grandmother kindly shared Uncle Hal’s Memoirs with me.
Uncle Hal‘s Memoirs
When I first read Uncle Hal’s Memoirs I was mesmerized by the vivid pictures his words evoked. I could clearly envision the dapper young man he described riding the streetcar in Louisville wearing a new suit of clothes. I matched that image to a portrait I found in a family album. It gave me a new regard for this handsome fellow coming of age in the early 1900s.
Uncle Hal had a beautiful way of describing the landscapes of his life. His words added sharp color to the bustling streets of Louisville where he worked as a young man. He wrote with admiration of the farmland in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where he eventually settled and raised a family. He fondly remembered the gently rolling knobs of Indiana, his boyhood home. In his careful handwriting, he drew a picture of the wonder, humor and providential nature of the world he knew.
And that brings me back to Apple Butter. One of Uncle Hal’s most beautiful portraits described the harvest season in southern Indiana when he was a boy.
The Last Harvest of the Year
The apple harvest was another occasion for busy, happy excitement. It came in October when the corn was in the shock and summer’s work was almost finished. The apple harvest was the last harvest of the year and we had ample time to enjoy it. It was lots of work too but it was the kind of work that is more like fun, especially to an eight year old boy. The apples had to be picked and brought in; then came the job of peeling them and taking out the cores. The neighbors usually helped. Apple peelings were quite common and something of a social event. Anyone who wished to get the job done and have a lot of fun at the same time would invite as many neighbors – usually in the evening… Preparations took about two days.
With the kettle in place and wood stacked nearby, we would roll out of bed before daylight and get the fire going and Mother would come with apples. From there on the procedure was the same as with peach butter, Mother adding more apples from time to time as the apples boiled down. We changed about, each one taking a turn with the stirrer. Sugar and cinnamon were added when the apple butter was brown and thick and the fire was allowed to burn out. Apple butter took longer to make than peach butter, due to the higher juice content of the apples. Sometimes night would fall before the job was finished. Remember, my dear girls, that we made apple butter in October when the days were shorter than they were in the peach season.
I wish I could give you a clear picture of the apple harvest in Southern Indiana when I was a “kid”, [of] those beautiful October days when the autumn colors were on the trees and Indian Summer came and spread its lavender mantle over the good earth. I wish you could see the sun going down in a sea of lavender and gold and a spiral of wood smoke rising from a small fire and disappearing in the purple twilight. If you look closely, you may see a boy stirring apple butter in a farmyard and a Mother coming out of the house to see if all is well. If I could make the picture as clear to you as it is to me I’m sure it would remain in your memories as long as it has in mine.
~ Uncle Hal’s Memoirs
Sweet Surprises
Since reading Uncle Hal’s story I have become fascinated by recipes for Apple Butter. Personally I am not a huge fan of jams, jellies and other preserves. They are often too sweet for my taste. I prefer most fruit fresh, if possible, and with very little sugar added. But, as I said, Apple Butter is about so much more than the apples. Making Apple Butter is about history and family. It’s about what’s wholesome and homemade. It’s about making the most of the abundance God has blessed us with here and now.
I have continued to collect recipes and search for a less-sweet version of Apple Butter. Considering those recipes I learned that sugar has a preservative quality that adds shelf life to canned fruits. I think that’s the main reason traditional Apple Butter recipes call for far more sugar than I find palatable. Recently, though, I discovered that its okay to make Apple Butter with much less sugar. Food is now stored in ways that weren’t available to my great great grandmother and Uncle Hal a century ago. Apple Butter keeps for several weeks in the refrigerator, without much concern for the amount of sugar added. It keeps even longer in the freezer.
Finally, last year I found a recipe for Apple Butter that really appealed to me. Lelo in NoPo posted a wonderfully forgiving way to make Apple Butter in a slow cooker. It starts with a slow cooker filled with apples then lets them cook overnight. By morning the fragrance of apples will be wafting through the house greeting you as you begin to stir and tugging on your sleeve, urging you to get out of bed and make pancakes for breakfast. Just puree the apples using a stick blender, add a little ground cinnamon and you have fresh flavorful homemade applesauce to serve with those pancakes.
Apple Butter in a Slow Cooker
After Breakfast, add sweetener to your own taste. Set the lid of the slow cooker ajar and let the apples continue to cook, stirring occasionally for several hours, or until the apple mixture reaches a thick buttery consistency. What you have now is Homemade Apple Butter made by a process that is so simple and rewarding it just might turn into a new family tradition.
Homemade Apple Butter is a wonderful treat on cool autumn days! As it cooks I think of Uncle Hal’s “sea of lavender and gold” in the purple twilight. I can almost see the smoke rising from his small wood fire as I breathe in the fragrance of the apples and spices cooking down in my slow cooker.
The aroma alone is worth the small amount of effort it takes to prepare this recipe. Better yet, this Apple Butter tastes delicious spread on biscuits, toast, cornbread, even a saltine cracker. It also adds flavor as an ingredient in a variety of recipes for cakes or muffins. Though this recipe makes only a few jars of apple butter, rather than the 30 gallon copper kettle full that my great great grandmother canned during the autumns a century ago, it is enough for our tastes and circumstances and worth far more in the places it is able to take me than in the contribution it makes to my pantry.
This recipe for Apple Butter also includes a taste of real maple syrup and a little ground cardamom and allspice to supplement the traditional ground cinnamon. The result is mildly sweet but still lets the crisp tartness of the apple flavor shine through.
Homemade Apple Butter
Course: Breakfast, SidesCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy3
pints20
minutes12
hours12
hours20
minutesHomemade Apple Butter, spiced with cardamom, allspice and cinnamon, is mildly sweet but still lets the crisp tartness of the apple flavor shine through.
Ingredients
6 – 8 pounds of apples (enough to fill the bowl of your slow cooker)
1/2 cup water
1/2 – 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (I used brown)
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon allspice
The juice and zest of one small lemon
Directions
- Before Going to Bed:
- Fill a slow cooker with apples that have been peeled, cored and sliced.
- Pour ½ cup water over the apples.
- Cover and let cook on low setting overnight.
- (Mix the batter for Overnight Pancakes, if desired, and store in the refrigerator)
- In the Morning:
- Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the apples.
- Using a stick blender, blend the cooked apples until smooth.
- Now you have applesauce. Fill a bowl with enough to serve your family as a sidedish with pancakes for breakfast.
- (Make pancakes using the prepared batter for Overnight Pancakes or try Swedish Pancakes or Wheat Germ Griddle Cakes if you prefer.)
- After Breakfast:
- Leave the remainder of the blended apples in the slow cooker. Stir in the maple syrup, sugar, cardamon and allspice, lemon juice and zest. Add more cinnamon and/or sugar to taste. Prop the lid open or set it ajar so that steam will escape.
- Every hour or so stir the apple mixture scraping down the sides of the slow cooker well each time.
- Continue for several hours, until the apples have thickened to a buttery paste, or until they reach the consistency you are looking for.
- Store the finished Apple Butter in clean glass mason jars or in freezer containers. The Apple Butter should keep several weeks in the refrigerator and several months in the freezer.
- Enjoy!
Thank you so much for offering this story and recipe. I've just come in from a 3 mile hike through the woods and am about to begin my annual applebutter making. Your story has given me the incentive to write my story in a journal I am keeping for my children and grandchildren. I pick my apples from my friend's small orchard every year, in exchange for several large heads of cabbage- I do not grow apples, she does not grow cabbages.
Lisa—
What an incredible family tradition to share with us! We remember our moms breaking out the old apple corer/peeler and making apple butter, apple pies and apple cider every fall. It was a ritual we always looked forward to. Those special moments we share are so important to pass on. Isn't it amazing how something as simple as apple butter can bridge the generational gaps and deepen our roots?
Lisa this is such a great way to make apple butter, I must try it. My recipe calls for vinegar, and I don't know the purpose of it?? I will have to try your recipe out so that we can have hot apple sauce for breakfast and butter by dinner!
Thanks for the comments everyone! This was a fun post for me to write.
Ivy and Christina – I'm not sure which variety of apples would be best for this recipe. I think most any type you like the flavor of will work. This year I used Jonagold apples.
Christina -I have seen several recipes for Apple Butter that cook the apples in a slow oven in a large roasting pan or dutch oven. I have never done it that way but if I were to try I would keep the oven temperature somewhere below 300 degrees and stir the apples every half hour. The danger is that the apples will stick and burn on the bottom. Stirring frequently should prevent that and yield the same result as using the crock pot.
Make sure to leave the lid ajar after you puree the apples so that the liquid can evaporate. Or take the lid off altogether at that point and stir more frequently.
Good luck! I'd love to hear how your Apple Butter turns out if you try it.
Oh, this looks delish – just found your blog this morning.
Any particular type of apple recommendations for the recipe?
What would you do if you didn't have a crock pot? Dutch oven/heavy covered pot in the oven on low (200F)??
What a nice memory. I love reading about simpler times.
Apple butter is one of my absolute favorites. Yours looks so creamy and delicious. I especially like the first photo with the nuts in the center.
What a beautiful post to share Lisa. Your uncle's writing is indeed beautiful. I enjoyed getting to see a glimpse of everyday life.
Your apple butter looks so rich and creamy.
your post is a wonderful tribute to your uncle and to tradition.
I'm definitely making this. I was lucky enough to go to university in Waterloo, the heart of Canadian Mennonite country. And we used to buy jars of apple butter at the farmer's market every Saturday.
Now that I live on the Canadian prairies, I think it's time I learned to make my own. Thanks for the lesson 🙂 Beautiful post.
Making apple butter in a slow cooker is a great idea. It looks so thick and flavorful. Lovely story, Lisa.
Such a lovely post! This looks amazing.
phenomenal post, lisa. i echo your sentiments about the many layers of apple butter, as it's something that has a lot of meaning in my life too. the traditions my family and community have regarding apple butter and its creation are something i'll always treasure!
OMG…this must be the best stuff ever. I love apple butter and homemade has to be even better.
This post is so good I am in tears. I really love apple butter. YUM!
And…I love the idea of making it a a new family tradition. I will try this on a holiday when I have time.YAY!
Peach butter sounds fabulous too!
Oh, what kind of apples do you think are best to use?
Wow how lucky you are to have such treasures! I make apple butter in the crock pot too. I just used up my last 2 jars from last year.
Lisa I loved this post, what a tribute and an amazing story. And apple butter….mmmmmmmmmm