Crock pot ideas/Recipie

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I bought a shopping bag ful of fresh apples today at the farmer's market.
My husband is a BIG fan of apple butter on toast. Last year I made tons of it as a 2 day project.
This year I have a little less time available so i'll make a bit more modest amount of apple butter this weekend. Even just a few jars will make DH very happy. If I can manage some extra I can give some to daughter and DIL when they come for Thanksgiving and they can take it home.

Here's my recipe for apple butter, which I make in my big crock pot:

First, you cut up a whole SLEW of apples and fill a big spaghetti pot on the stove with them and cook covered on medium-low for about 45 minutes or an hour with an inch or so of water. Stir and mash occasionally....and you get apple sauce. Add a little sugar if its too tart.

Then, to make that into apple butter, you take the apple sauce you just made and transfer it a large crock pot and continue cooking on LOW for hours with the top propped open a little, to let it evaporate and get thicker. I use slow cookers for this, about 6 qt size ones. Be sure to leave at least an inch of space at the top when you fill the crockpot with apple sauce.
After about 12 hours in the crockpot on LOW (not on the high setting!), with an occasional stir every few hours, it's brown and thick but tastes like very concentrated apple, not burnt tasting. It should be stiffer than apple sauce.

I then add some sugar and a little allspice and cloves (I prefer this to the usual cinnamon)....to give it a hint of spiciness. You could try coriander or mace too. At the end if it's too chunky, I give it a quick zap with my hand held blender stick to make it a bit smoother than my usually chunky apple sauce.
Let cool and pack into containers and freeze.
Note: Unlike stovetop cooking, you can safely leave your crockpot cooking on LOW overnight if you place it on a safe surface and prop the lids open a crack with a metal teaspoon handle or large unbent paper clip. The lid needs to be open a crack to allow the apple butter to thicken while cooking.