Apple Butter (No Sugar Added)

In my journey to eat healthier, I found a solution to the dry toast- apple butter! Although we still have calories here, we don’t have the fat that butter adds to toast. This is an easy slow cooker apple butter recipe without any added sugar. I had a bowl full of apples that the family wasn’t eating, so I put them to good use before they went bad.

Apple Butter without Sugar Slow Cooker Recipe

12-15 apples (the redder the apple, the sweeter it will be)

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon (if you don’t LOVE cinnamon like I do, you can reduce this to 2 teaspoons)

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.Wash apples

2. Peel apples- I use an apple peeler, which I highly recommend as it makes the job go much faster (and it is kinda fun)

3. Measure out spices

4. Place prepared apples in slow cooker and sprinkle with your spices

5. Gently mix

6. Cook on high for about an hour in the slow cooker.  After an hour has passed, turn slow cooker to low and let cook for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally.

7. Once the apples have cooked down and resemble apple sauce, remove the lid and continue to cook for another hour (this allows some of the liquid to evaporate for a thicker apple butter).

8. Once completed you can let your apple butter cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge OR you can can it.  I can mine, as my family won’t eat all of it in time.

9. Prepare you canning jars and lids by washing them in very hot water, rinsing them and then filling them with boiling hot water.

10.  While your apple butter is still very hot in the slow cooker, dump out the boiling water from your prepared canning jars.  BE CAREFUL! THEY WILL BE VERY HOT!

11. Carefully fill the jar almost to the rim with the apple butter and using a chopstick, poke out the air bubbles from the jar.

12. Clean off the rim of the jar (it must be clean for the lid to adhere)

13. Place your lid and rim on the jar.

14. Tighten the lid down and flip the jar upside down on a towel on a flat solid surface.  The heat from the apple butter and the heat from the jar will create the seal.  DO NOT MOVE THE JARS FROM THIS POSITION UNTIL THEY ARE COMPLETELY COOLED!  (I usually wait 24 hours to be safe.)

15. After the jars are completely cooled, press on the lids to make sure your seal took.  They should not spring back at all.  They should not move when you press on the lid.  If there is any spring back, the seal did not take and you will need to refrigerate the jar.

16. Now, you can do the best part- ENJOY!