Apples in our area have been super expensive this year, so I was really excited to receive a bag full of apples from a friend. We haven’t been using jam lately because I haven’t learned to make it without sugar, so I wanted to try apple butter. I asked on Facebook if anyone had tips or recipes for apple butter, and was amazed at how easy it is to make! Since you leave the peels on and it’s done in the crockpot rather than the stove, it only takes a few minutes of hands on work. These apples were tart, so I used 1/2 a cup of honey per batch, but if you’re using sweeter apples or a combination of apples and pears, you could do without sweetener altogether.
Sugar Free Apple Butter
8-12 medium-sized apples or a combination of apples and ripe pears
1/2 cup honey (optional)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions:
Rinse apples, core, and slice. Don’t peel. Put in crock pot along with honey, water, and cinnamon and turn on low 12 hours or over night. At this point you will have apple sauce. Puree in the crockpot with a stick blender, or transfer to a food processor or blender and puree. Return to the crock pot and cook on the lowest setting (I use ‘keep warm’) with the lid cracked to allow steam to escape for another 4-6 hours, stirring once every couple hours. This will darken and thicken the apple butter. Spoon into jars and keep in the refrigerator, freezer, or can using a water bath method to keep in the pantry. Enjoy on toast, muffins, or in sandwiches.
Coring the apples.
Sliced apples.
Ready to enjoy!
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oh goodie! this looks soooo easy and i think would be great also on rice for a yummy gluten-free treat and maybe even on vanilla ice cream. and i have a small basket full of apples from a local orchard i’ve been told are quite tart. thanks Cara!
I love making apple butter. My man eats it on his toast and I love it in my oatmeal and on ice cream.
Apple butter always looked gross to me, so I’ve never even tasted it. But this? This is like really, really mushy apple sauce. I can handle that!
I actually made crock pot apples for dessert last night. We got some flavorless apples from my in-laws, so I chunked them up with some brown sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt, and cooked them on low for about 3 hours, then took the lid off, added cinnamon and honey (really bland apples), and simmered some of the excess liquid off. It’s really tasty!
I’m glad to find a way to make it w/o sugar! I just opened my first jar of apple butter from a previous harvest, its so yummy- I can’t believe it took me so long to try it! That brown color in the jar just isn’t as attractive as the orange and red hues of other fruit jams so it got put to last!
Started this up yesterday and had some for breakfast today. Quite yummy! Thank you for the recipe!
I like the idea of using honey instead of sugar. I’ve made apple butter several times in the past that always turned out well, though I used apple cider instead of water~ Thanks for posting
Nice post. Is pectin allowed on GAPS or is that a “no-no” as well. I’ve seen some recipes using honey for jams, but haven’t done it myself.
It’s not, but if you choose certain kinds of apples (mainly green I think) sometimes the apple butter jells like jam does due to the naturally occurring pectin.
I am always looking for different ideas to share with clietns to enhance their eating experience when eliminating grains. Love this apple butter that can be used in so many ways.
I appreciate your website so much! This helps so much with my 10 and 15 yr olds and just finding out about eating to nourish, not just feed!!!
I just canned this and I was wondering is there is any botulism problems with replacing sugar with honey. Have you successfully water bath canned this with no issues? I canned this recipe for about 10 min. Just want to make sure. Thanks
I can’t wait to try this with all of the extra apples from my tree!
Made this last night. My hubby thought it looked burnt this morning but it tasted fine