Whatever-fruit-you-have-in-the-house butter

I am not good (as I have stated before) about planning food ideas ahead and usually will cook things as the whim strikes me. Or I just make a bunch of something when I realized that if I wait too much longer, it will go bad (hence my proclivity for banana bread). Hence this recipe for apple/pear/peach butter. Now if you don't know what this is, it is like the best flavors of an apple pie distilled down into one magic spoonful that you can then slather on any carbohydrate filled vessel of your choice (I personally like biscuits or cornbread for this).

I couldn't really find a recipe that I liked, so I sort of made one up. Besides, I haven't met a recipe yet that didn't benefit from me messing with it.

The best part of this is that it requires a CrockPot. You know, that thing that you break out only for barbecues and tailgates and was registered for a gazillion years ago for your wedding but you never actually use. Dust it off ladies...

Fruit Butter

• 4 medium apples that are not super tart (I think I used a Jonagold or something similar, whatever, it was green!) - peeled and chopped
• 2 pears (I used D'Anjou)
• 1 peach (I used a white fleshed peach, can't remember the name)
• 1 cup of apple cider (the Martha Stewart recipe called for 1 cup of apple cider + 1/2 cup of lemon juice - I figured I could kill two birds with one stone
• 1 large jar of applesauce
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• Spices, depending on your preference (I used cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and 1 whole vanilla bean split in half lengthwise)
  

You will not believe how amazing your house smells when you are making this stuff. I thought I was living inside a freakin' Yankee Candle. I started this in a large saucepan, but then got annoyed with all the splattering and transferred it into the beloved CrockPot.

Put everything into a CrockPot and cook for HOURS, mixing every 30 minutes or so to prevent scorching and mashing the larger pieces up as you go.

The picture above is what it looked like at the halfway point, about 6 hours in. When thick and dark (and a wooden spoon can stand upright), you are done. FYI, this could take up to 12 hours. I am not joking - 12 HOURS! But you will thank me. Pick a nice rainy day when you have nothing to do but watch your DVR'd episodes of Glee and Top Chef and get cooking.


Here is the finished product with a picture hijacked from the site AwesomeProducts. net (I think I like the name of the site almost as much as the picture). I was going to stage a picture with an apple or some extra scones, but eh. This one is just as good. At the end of the day, my recipe yields just enough fruit butter for a large canning jar (which I jarred according to USDA recommendations - no botulism for this family (unless it is in the form of Botox, in which case I would gladly welcome a little, hee hee) plus a little left over for the fridge that can be used for biscuits, scones, waffles, pancakes or whatever. I definitely was doing my happy food dance after this one.