24 Hour Apple Butter

Andrew absolutely adores apple butter. (My 5th grade English teacher would be so proud of my use of alliteration there!) I buy him a jar for Christmas every year. We try out different brands, but they all pretty much taste the same. Since we recently went to a pick-your-own farm and came home with 40, yes 40, apples, the first thing I wanted to do was try to make this on my own. It turned out really well. I don't even like apple butter, but now I'm eating the stuff for breakfast every day on wheat bread. Which reminds me, I need to make some biscuits...

 

You need a LOT of apples, and it cooks down to about 4 cups when it's all said and done. I know that seems crazy, but as the apples break down, the flavor gets all concentrated and Oh. My. Goodness. You will never buy the stuff in a jar again.

24 Hour Apple Butter
Makes about 4 cups

What I use:

• 6 lbs. apples (the farm had Rome and Red Delicious, so I used a combo of those, but I will try it out with various apples in the future; Golden Delicious sounds good)
• 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 c. white sugar
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (that's all I had, I'm sure apple pie spice would be wonderful too)

How I do it:

1. Peel, core, and slice your apples. I have one of those apple peeler/corer/slicer things that suctions to the counter, so this was pretty easy for me.

2. Place the apples and vinegar in the slow cooker. I used a 6 quart slow cooker.

3. Cook on low for 20 hours, stir in the sugars and spices, and cook on low for 4 more hours.

4. If you're going for the rustic look, leave it as-is, kind of chunky and definitely homemade-looking. We went the other route and put it in the blender so it was smooth and silky.

If you can bear to part with it, this makes great gifts. Can't you just picture it, in little jars with ribbon or some other such cuteness happening? If not, it will keep it your fridge for about a month, if it lasts that long.