Homemade Apple Butter

I've been wanting to make my own apple butter for awhile since my husband eats it like crazy. We usually buy it from a local orchard and it gets to be a little expensive. I used up the apples from last weekend's picking trip. I'm not sure of the exact amount it made, but it was a lot! My husband had some today on his cottage cheese and he liked it, enough to eat a couple spoonfuls right out of the jar! Between this and the beef stew I made tonight, my crock pot got a good workout.


10 medium sized apples
2 cups of unsweetened apple juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of sea salt

Core and slice the apples; do not peel. Place into a large crockpot. Pour the apple juice over the sliced apples. Add the water, apple cider vinegar and spices. You can adjust the amount of nutmeg and add ground cloves (I didn't have a container, so I left it out.)

Stir all the ingredients together. Cover and cook on low for 15 hours. The liquid will reduce and the apples will be very soft, darken and your house will smell wonderful. Turn the crock pot off and let the mixture cool for approximately 30 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and process until completely smooth. Let cool completely and transfer to storage containers. The apple butter will last in the refrigerator for about 3 weeks or can be frozen.
Recipe slightly adapted from Eating Birdfood