No Sugar Crockpot Apple Butter

This is the season for apples and apple butter. I've been off of sugar of all forms for a few months now but I wanted to have some apple butter. I searched the internet for apple butter crockpot recipes without sugar and all I could find was apple butter made with juice which is sugary and artificial sweetners or stevia. None of those appealed to me. I started thinking about it and thought that raisins are naturally sweet so I decided to give it a try. The results were very pleasing. The apple butter had a little sweetness to it, but, not too much which was fine with me since I'm not a big fan of really sweet things.

I used a 3 quart crockpot because that's what I have and I didn't want to make too much and I wasn't planning on canning it. You could use a bigger crockpot just adjust the proportions accordingly. Make sure the apples come to within 1” of the top of the crockpot.

3 apples, cored and cut into pieces

½ c. raisins

½ t. cinnamon

½ t. nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Water

Notes: I used gala apples because they are sweet apple. You can use any apple you like. I left the skin on my apples since they were organic but if you prefer you can peel them. You could add allspice if you like it. I don’t so I left it out.

Put the apples in the crockpot making sure they come up to about 1” below the rim of the container.

Put the raisins and ½ cup water into a blender and blend until smooth.

Put the raisin water, spices, salt into the crockpot with the apples. Add water to almost cover.

Cook on low 14 – 16 hours until the mixture looks dark, dense and fairly smooth. If the mixture is smooth and water is still remaining, take the lid off the crockpot, turn it up to high and cook for about 1 hour until the water mostly evaporates.

Let cool and pour the mixture into the blender and puree until smooth.

Makes 1 ½ cups