If you love southern cooking like I do, you’ll love my homemade apple butter recipe, complete with step-by step instructions. I worked really hard to make this tasty sauce with fewer calories so that I could stay within my Weight Watchers Daily Points range. And it turned out amazing! This is definitely a must try.

And for those of you who’ve never had it before, here’s a little background info… Apple butter is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce, produced by long, slow cooking of apples with cider or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown. The concentration of sugar gives apple butter a much longer shelf life as a preserve than applesauce. Apple butter was a popular way of using apples in colonial America, and well into the 19th century. The term “butter” refers to the thick, soft consistency, and apple butter’s use as a spread for breads. Typically seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, lemon juice and other spices, apple butter may be spread on buttered toast, used as a side dish, an ingredient in baked goods, or as a condiment.

Apple Butter Recipe

Makes 4 cups

12 medium Granny Smith or other cooking apples, peeled and cut into fourths
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup apple juice
1 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Mix all ingredients in 5-6 qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 8-10 hours or until apples are very tender. Mash apples with potato masher or large fork. Cook uncovered on LOW 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is very thick. Cool about 2 hours. Spoon apple butter into container. Cover and store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks.

Per table spoon: calories 30, fat 0g, saturated fat 0g, cholesterol 0mg, sodium 0mg, carbohydrates 9g, fiber 1g, protein 0g

Weight Watchers Points Value = 1