No Sugar Added Apple Butter (AKA Naked Apple Butter)
Each year my grandparents (or as my kiddos call them, GiGi and PopPop) end up with more tiny green apples from there trees then they know what to do with. Lucky for me! These apples are perfect for cooking and I love cooking with fresh, organic home-grown ingredients any chance I get.
Last year I took many of the apples and made apple butter for the very first time. My nephew was living with us and has an allergy to peanuts so I used the apple butter as a fun treat on toast for all the kids.
The recipe I came up with (and the ones I keep seeing) had quite a bit of sugar and this year I decided to attempt to make apple butter with no sugar, I’m calling it naked apple butter! I picked up some local honey at a farmers market recently. I thought it might be the perfect sweetener for these tart little apples. Spoiler Alert: it was!
You Will Need:
16 small apples (approximately 2 lbs)
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons honey
Core and slice apples (I peeled mine but you don’t have to if you plan on using a blender later for smooth butter). Place the apples in the crock pot and add the water, honey, and spices. Cook on high for 4 hours. Once the apples are soft and easily mashed you can turn off the crockpot and let it cool. If you prefer a chunkier apple butter you can leave it be.
I like smooth apple butter so I used my blender. Store your apple butter in the fridge and enjoy it on toast, in a pie, with peanut butter or on a spoon straight from the jar!
