Crock-Pot Apple Butter Recipe

Decisions, Decisions: What Apple To Choose for Crock-Pot Apple Butter

With a whopping 2,500 varieties of apples in the United States alone (7,500 world-wide), you’ve got plenty of choices. Apples range from sweet to tart in flavor and vary in their firmness. Stay away from baking types like the Granny Smith or Cortland, they’re super in pies but too firm for our needs. Since apple butter uses the flesh and not just the juice, you will want to pick a variety that breaks down easily.
The rest is really a matter of preference. If your goal is to reduce the amount of additional sugar in the butter, use a super sweet variety like the Honeycrisp. I find a combination of sweet and tart apples works well; my favorite is the Gala/Braeburn duo. For years I used Golden Delicious and Jonathans since I had access to those free. For your first batch, I wouldn’t get all hung up on the type. By all means use whatever you have on hand, and get creative after that.