Dana Sue Hinkle's Favorite Apple Butter Recipe

This post is written by Dana Sue Hinkle, co-owner and founder of Creative QT, and mom to five kiddos! Learn more about the Hinkle family and the heart behind Creative QT here.

Fall … my most favorite time of year!  As much as I love it, Fall is the one exception for where Adam and I differ. I love Fall; the smell of the leaves, the beauty of the changing colors, drinking apple cider, making all things pumpkin, wearing cozy clothes, Fall festivals, football games… I could seriously keep going on and on.  Adam on the other hand sees it as the precursor to winter and COLD weather.  He is more of a warm-weather kind of guy; his only downfall! 

We are so blessed to have an entire apple orchard at our home property in Illinois. This Fall we made 17 gallons of applesauce from our orchard!

We turned four gallons of the applesauce into apple butter.  One would think that four gallons would be enough for our family for the year, but clearly you haven’t met my 10-year-old! Our kids love all things apple!

In honor of one of our favorite family traditions, I’m sharing our family’s favorite apple butter recipe. I wish I knew who to give credit to for this recipe, but we have been making it for years and LOVE it!  Don’t think you need an entire apple orchard to make this recipe, we have been known to buy unsweetened applesauce in bulk at the store in our pre-orchard days.  We enjoy it on toast or, our favorite, pancakes!

Crock Pot Apple Butter

2 quarts applesauce (unsweetened)

2 1/3 c. sugar

2/3 c. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Put all ingredients in crock pot and stir to mix.  Cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours.  Stir occasionally.  Remove lid, cook until thickness desired.  Total hours, about 8.

Canning: Can be processed in hot water bath for 20 minutes.  

Or you can divide it up and freeze it.

Or you can just eat it all up there and then!!

As you can see from the photos, just as much family enjoyment comes from the process of picking the apples, as it does from eating the apple butter! The perfect way for our family to Make Time Together!

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Creative QT designs quality + innovative toys that declutter homes and inspire creative play. Founded by parents of five, Adam and Dana Sue Hinkle, Creative QT’s vision is to empower parents and encourage a culture of families that Make Time Together. All products are designed to enrich families’ lives through active, creative play and play based learning. Creative QT products are laboratory tested for compliance with CPSC requirements and are free of lead, cadmium and phthalates so you can play with confidence. So, go ahead … today is the day: be your kid’s hero.

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