I am extremely organised when it comes to Christmas shopping.
OH calls it neurotic and friends call it weird but what do they know?
Every year I have everything sorted by August. Lists made, things bought, extras prepared in case of any extra surprise guests and so on. It makes me feel properly grown up, organised and efficient. And as I just said, it makes people think I am not quite as chaotic as I really am.
But there is a bit of a secret behind this. It is that every autumn, when the shops have their Christmas displays, I just can’t resist buying ‘a few’ more things for presents. With my full list ticked off in August, that means that I have now got a year ahead of myself.
So this year I decided that I’d kick this habit. When the urge to buy kicks in, I’d go out and make slow cooker apple butter. Why? Because this year has been a bumper year for apples. More than I can remember. Our ancient trees are laden, and our new orchard has produced a whole wheelbarrow load. So we have to think of what to do with all these fruit, and apple butter is my newest discovery. Jars of this are perfect presents. And this would also make a rather delicious apple pie filling.
This apple butter is soooooooooo easy to make and the slow cooker (crock pot) does all the work for you. You just have to wait in your divine smelling kitchen for THAT moment when you can pretty much scoop the butter straight onto a warm crumbly scone. Or straight into your mouth……………
And below I have added other mouth watering edible Christmas gift ideas to inspire you from fabulous food bloggers.
Smarties toasted coconut granola over at Elsbro.
Date coconut almond truffles over at Hedgecombers.
Rosemary olive oil cake over at Our Neck Of The Woods.
Cantucci biscuits over at Glamorous Glutton.
Peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over at Pinch of Yum.
Spice cranberry plum chutney over at Ren Behan.
Mince pie samosas over at The Spicy Pear.
Orange and lemon curd over at Lavender and Lovage.
Chocolate dipped fondant creams over at Tinned Tomatoes.
Vanilla fudge over at London Unattached.
Victoria sponge over at Slice Off Me.
Chili shortbread over at Chocolate Log Blog.
And you can also check out my Edible Christmas Gifts Guide which includes even more delightful edible Christmas gift ideas.
Get the Slow Cooker Apple Butter Recipe:
Don't forget to tag #recipesfromapantry on Instagram or Twitter if you try Slow Cooker Apple Butter! It is really, really awesome for me when you make one of my recipes and I'd love to see it. You can also share it on my Facebook page. Please pin this recipe to Pinterest too! Thank you for reading Recipes from a Pantry.
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 1.8 kg 4lbs dessert apples
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) water
- 55 g (1/3 cup) light brown sugar
- 1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
- Large pinch ground cardamom
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Core the apples and chop them - do not peel them.
- Add apples to the slow cooker and mix in all the ingredients.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
- Then puree the mixture till smooth with a hand held blender (stick blender).
- Then cook uncovered on high for about 1 hr till the butter thickens to the consistency you prefer.
- Let the mix cool and then transfer to sterilised jars and refrigerate.
- Use within 2 weeks.
Notes
Glamorous Glutton says
12/12/2013 at 2:44 pmThis is a fabulous round up and thanks for including me. Your apple butter looks delicious and I’d love to receive it as a gift. GG
Bintu says
12/12/2013 at 2:56 pmThanks GG. Maybe we should all get together and do a gift swap. 🙂
Tina @ The Spicy Pear says
12/12/2013 at 3:46 pmWhat a fantastic round up of festive food gifts. Your apple butter sounds delicious! Thank you for featuring my mince pie samosas.
Bintu says
12/12/2013 at 3:59 pmHey Tina, I do love your the combination of mince pie samosas
Sylvia says
12/12/2013 at 4:48 pmGreat round up Bintu! I’m sure apple butter tastes amazing 🙂 I remember my Mum making them for winter with a lot of cinammon, whole house smelled so nice 🙂 We also use them as a sharlotka filling..ehh memories! xx, Sylvia.
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 8:56 amSharlotka’s sound rather yummy.
janie says
12/12/2013 at 5:26 pmWhat a great round up! Some real yummy treats there Bintu xx
Janie x
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 8:56 amThey are yummy treats right?
Javelin Warrior says
12/12/2013 at 8:43 pmApple butter is a wonderful idea for a homemade gift! So easy and yet ever appreciated. I would love a jar of this myself – delicious over pancakes or waffles or just about anything 🙂
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 8:58 amJV – waffle maker on my list to Santa. Imagine all the apple butter I could eat with that gift.
Tammy/Our Neck of the Woods says
12/12/2013 at 9:03 pmThe apple butter sounds delicious! Yum! And thanks so much for including my olive oil cake in your round up. I appreciate it! 🙂
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 9:01 amThanks Tammy, your olive oil cake is something that OH would like.
Elsa says
12/12/2013 at 10:20 pmIf I ever make apple butter, I’m pretty sure I’ll eat mine right out of the slow cooker. Thanks for including me, these all look wonderful. Now off to explore 🙂
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 8:59 amNo way would I miss out smarties toasted coconut granola. That is just too good.
Choclette says
13/12/2013 at 10:08 amOh, how I wish I knew about this method when I made it a couple of years ago. I had a fantastic product at the end but it took me 3 1/2 hrs of constant stirring. I swore I would never make it again. I foolishly didn’t write down the recipe I used, but I’m pretty sure there was no added sugar; the theory being that the concentration of the sugar in the apple should be enough. Anyway, next time I have more apples than I know what to do with, I shall try your method.
Thanks for including my biscuits in this great round-up. Off to check out a couple of the ideas now.
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 10:22 amOh no Choclette. I would have though the same as you. Much easier this way. I guess the sweetness deends on the apples you use. You can always add sugar in after pureeing the fruit and tasting it.
Jess @UsedYorkCity says
13/12/2013 at 3:41 pmWhat a lovely idea! I would certainly adore getting this as a gift!;-) I’ve tried applesauce in the slow cooker, but will have to give this a whirl, too! Happy holidays:-)
Bintu says
13/12/2013 at 4:20 pmHappy holiday back at you Jess.
Robin Wilson says
14/12/2013 at 2:28 amThis is wonderful! It is past season here for apples, but I will save this for next year. Thank for sharing and best of luck with kicking the shopping habit!
Bintu says
15/12/2013 at 8:06 amThanks Robin.
Akaleistar says
14/12/2013 at 3:20 amLove apple butter!
Bintu says
15/12/2013 at 8:06 amIt is perfect with a whole load of things.
Zainab @ Blahnik Baker says
15/12/2013 at 7:49 pmA great collection Bintu!! And apple butter is just the perfect gift.
Bintu says
19/12/2013 at 7:50 amIt is Zainab. Except now that I have seen your yummy popcorn you make me want to leave the apple butter behind.
ManjiriK says
19/12/2013 at 12:43 amHey Bintu! Apple butter sounds so delish! I love the idea , lets do a gift swap!!! Thanks for including my Posh Victoria Sponge in the round up 🙂
Bintu says
19/12/2013 at 7:49 amHey Manjiri, I am so up for swapping gifts from you talented folk.
Jacob says
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link says
14/04/2014 at 2:02 pmYup, that should defo do the trick!