Apple Pear Butter

This recipe is super flexible! You want to have roughly equal amounts of apples and pears. 10 of each fruit is an estimate! This will vary depending on the size of fruit and size of your slow cooker. You want to use as many fruits as you can and fill it as full as possible because it will cook down.

Make sure to use cooking apples (no gala, or red delicious). My favorite apples to cook with are Wagener, Hauer Pippin, Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples. You can use almost any kind of pear. The only pears that I’ve had a poor result with are D’anjou. Otherwise, Warren pears are our top pick. This needs to cook for about 14 hours and at some point it needs to be puréed with either a stick blender or in a blender/food processor. You can purée it anytime after about 2 hours in to 2 hours from the end.

The type of fruit you use and the ripeness of it will make this recipe more wet/dry. If it is more dry it will need to cook for less time, if it is more wet it will need to cook for more time. Cook it until it is the consistency you want it to be (ie. do you want it to be thick enough to spread on toast, or thinner to add to yogurt?) I’ve added 1 cup of water to the beginning of cooking to make sure that if you choose dry fruits they won’t burn. For example Granny Smith apples and Asian pears are dry, while Gravenstein apples and ripe Warren pears are juicy. It’s fun to play around with the different fruits to get the Apple Pear Butter that is perfect for you!

Makes: 6-8 pints

Preparation time: 45m
Cooking time: 45m
Total time: 14h45m

Ingredients:

  • 10 apples (use a cooking apple like: Granny Smith, Gravensteins, Pink Lady, Wagener, etc.)
  • 10 pears (Warren pears if you can get them, or Bartlett or Asian)
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons Maple syrup (optional: use more or less if you want it sweeter or less sweet)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground clove

Equipment:

Instructions:

  1. Slice apples and pears into bite-sized pieces, discarding seeds, cores and stems. Leave on the skins. The skins have pectin, that is what gives this sauce thickness. Place the sliced apples and pears into slow cooker.
  2. Add 1 cup of water to slow cooker.
  3. Set the slow cooker on low for 14 hours.
  4. At some point in the middle, after at least two hours but no later than 2 hours from the end you should purée the apples and pears with a stick blender or in a blender/food processor and return it to the slow cooker to finish cooking. This is also when you add the maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Blend in the spices.
  5. Around the 14 hour mark check the sauce for consistency. If you are happy with it you can turn it off and it is done! If you want it thicker, cook it uncovered for longer (up to several hours) until it is the consistency you want it to be. It will thicken up slightly as it cools, so to test it remove some and put it on a plate and let it cool.
  6. Enjoy!