Overnight Crockpot Habanero Apple Butter!

Apple butter is so good and so good for you, and now it’s so easy to make! With this recipe, you can use one kind of apple, or mix it up and use several different kinds. When we make it we try to use only one kind, it’s always Granny Smith. There are times we have several kinds of apples on hand but not enough of any one kind, so we make the apple butter into a mash up, in more than one way.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 medium apples, peeled and finely diced (one kind of apple or a mixture of apples)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup Apple Habanero Pepper Jelly
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 cup apple cider

How to make apple butter:

Put all ingredients in a large crockpot. Cover, and cook on low for 10-12 hours or until apples are very tender. We usually do this preparation at night and let the aroma seep through the house while we sleep, or you can do it in the morning before everyone leaves for work or school.

When the apples are tender – and most of the apples will be so mushy it’s as though they aren’t even there anymore – start stirring. The mixture should pretty much melt under the stirring. If a few apple pieces prove to be stubborn, get out your potato masher. Some people like a few lumps in our apple butter, but not everybody does. If you need to, push the mixture through a strainer to make sure you’ve got your preferred texture.

Once you’ve stirred and smoothed your apple butter to your own family’s version of perfection, spoon it into jars or Tupperware containers and keep it in the refrigerator; it will stay good for about a week in the fridge. If you want to freeze it, it freezes well and will keep for about a year in the freezer.

Now, for the main part about homemade apple butter: the eating. Spread it on bagels, on bread, on toast, on rolls, on biscuits . . . spread it on anything you would spread butter or jam on.

What’s breakfast without apple butter on toast, I ask you? But I already know the answer.

And remember, this is no ordinary apple butter: This is our TPJ version of Apple Habanero Apple Butter! It’s better than the rest.