Since I was very young, I’ve been something of a collector. I figured that if having one of something was good, then having three or four was even better. As a kid, this meant that I had more pens and pencils in my school bag than necessary and felt most comfortable when I had a back-up security blanket.
In my adulthood, this propensity towards duplication has most actively manifested itself in the kitchen. I have at least two dozen wooden spoons and spatulas (when just a handful would really do), three vintage waffle irons (because you never know when one might break) and five slow cookers.
There’s no really good defense for the wooden implements or the waffle irons, but I do have a rationale for the slow cookers. My slow cooker needs often vary and so having different shapes, sizes and eras to choose from give me options.
Dips go in the mini-cooker. When I make overnight oatmeal, the 2 1/2 quart pot is best. If I’m doing a batch of blueberry butter and want really low, slow heat, nothing works better than my vintage, 4 quart, avocado green cooker. I also have kept a basic 6 quart cooker in the rotation for a while for stocks and soups, though I must confess, it has never been my favorite.
Then there’s slow cooker number five. It joined the line-up recently and rocketed to the top of my slow cooker hit parade. It’s the Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget model, with a lid that can be locked into a place and a thermometer probe that you can use to test internal temperatures without lifting the lid and releasing the heat. It allows you to set the cook time and temperature (when the time is up, it shifts to a keep warm setting).
This time of year, my slow cookers are in regular rotation for the production of apple and pear butters. I typically go with my vintage cooker, because I know that I can trust it not to burn (older slow cookers have lower set temperatures than the newer models). However, because of its capacity, it ends up yielding just a couple of pints. As you know, most of the time I like a small batch just a little more than the next girl. During the holiday season that changes and I appreciate the option of larger yields for gift giving.
I realize now that I’ve avoided the newer cookers and their higher temperatures because I’ve never worked with one that had an auto shut-off before. I tend to let my fruit butters cook overnight. That was too much time for my brute force, either-on-or-off cooker. But having the option to set it to cook for 5 or 6 hours and then shift to warm has changed everything. I know this technology has been around for a while (my mom had a slow cooker when I was little that did something along these lines), but I’d never before experienced it. I am in love.
My fruit butter yields are higher because the new Hamilton Beach machine has a larger capacity and I’m not running the risk of burning the butter because it shuts off when I ask. I am a happy canner.
Before we get to the apple butter recipe I’ve made three times in the last month in machine, I have to tell you one more reason why I really like it. It’s that “Stay or Go” feature. This slow cooker has a lid fitted with a silicone seal that can be locked into place. That makes it an able traveler, which is terrific for a regular potluck-attender like me.
I used it to transport and serve mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving (sadly, they were the worst mashed potatoes I’ve ever made; both lumpy and gummy at the same time. But the quality of the potatoes wasn’t the cooker’s fault) and it will be pressed into travel service again soon.
The formal recipe I’ve been using for this slow cooker apple butter is after the jump, but here’s the narrative version. You begin by filling your slow cooker to the top with sliced apples (I got about eight pounds into my cooker, but there’s some natural variation here). You add a little water (maybe 1/2 a cup) to help things along and then you let the cooker for for four to six hours on low, until you can mash the apples into sauce.
Then you puree the heck out of the applesauce, until the skins disappear. It works best in my Vitamix, but I’ve also achieved this same effect with an immersion blender and persistence. Then you return the puree to the slow cooker (it will only fill it 2/3 of the way up at this point) and cook on low for another six or so hours with the lid slightly askew for venting purposes, until the sauce has reduced into butter. Stir in sugar, spices, and lemon zest/juice for balance. That’s it! Easy and makes such good holiday presents!
Finally, the giveaway. Hamilton Beach has generously given me eight (yes, that’s eight) of these Set ‘n Forget Slow Cookers to give away to my readers. Here’s how to enter.
- Leave a comment on this post and share your favorite slow cooker use.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, December 22, 2012. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday.
- Giveaway open US residents only.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
Disclosure: Hamilton Beach gave me one Set ‘n Forget Slow Cooker for review and photography purposes and they’re providing eight additional units for this giveaway. They did not pay for inclusion on the blog and my opinions remain entirely my own.
Ingredients
- 7-8 pounds apples (any varieties you like)
- 1/2 to 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- zest and juice of one lemon
Instructions
- Slice apples and heap them into a six quart slow cooker.
- Add 1/2 cup water and set to low.
- Cook until apples are tender and can be easily pressed into sauce. On low, this will take 4-6 hours. On high, it should only take 2-3 hours.
- Puree softened apples into a smooth puree (it shouldn't be necessary to peel).
- Return to puree to slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours with the lid set slightly ajar so that it can vent.
- Add 1/2 cup sugar, spices and lemon zest/juice. Taste and add more spices and sugar, if necessary.
- Funnel hot apple butter into prepared jars.
- Apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
- When time is up, remove jars from canner and let cool on a folded kitchen towel.
Notes
My batch yielded just over 3 pints, but with all things that depend on reduction, yields will vary. I can see this batch ranging from 2 to 4 pints, depending on the water content of the apples and the length that you cook them.
This recipe can be canned in pints, half pints, quarter pints or any other small jar designed for boiling water bath canning. All jars pints or smaller are processed for 15 minutes. Should you want to can it in quarts, increase processing time to 20 minutes.
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I love my slow cooker. It gets a lot of use during the holidays, including cooking the huge batch of meatballs I’ll be cooking this weekend for my family tree trimming party.
One of my favorite things to do in the slow cooker is to make caramelized onions. No stirring!
http://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/blogs/recipe-slow-cooker-caramelized-onions
I think my most type of food in the slow cooker is pot roasts.
I’ve only ever made pulled pork and pot roast in my crockpot. I would love this fancy high-tech one for jams and butters! (confessions of a kitchen gadget mama)
Spicy pork tacos!
My favorite slow cooker recipe is also Apple Butter! Mine has apple cider vinegar and a little more tang than most!
I have been without a slow cooker for several years since my last one died. I miss it for the times when taking a hot dish on the road. But especially last year when I attempted apple butter for the first time. So tedious on the stove top, remembering that I had it going for hour upon hour. I would love to get another one for those delicious slow braised pot roasts and chilis.
More often than anything else, my slow cooker is filled with steel-cut oats, dried fruit, and a 50/50 blend of water and milk.
I love to make the apple and pear butters- Happy Holidays!
I love making veggie stews with whatever I have on hand.
I use my cooker for slow cooking stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce.
I love making pulled Mexican Chicken for burritos. Also, I just fixed Rabbit Mulligan stew….it was great!
Pulled pork is one of my all-time favorite kind of sandwiches. I would love to be able to cook some in a new slow-cooker!
I loooooove using my slow cooker to make bone broth but this recipe sounds fabulous! Will have to give it a go!
I use mine the most for soups and stews.
they are the best for chili cookoffs! so much fun! good for french onion soup too … makes the whole house smell delicious!
I have a CrockPot that is older than I am – my mother gave it to me a few years ago, and it still works great! I use my slow cooker to make apple butter as gifts for my friends and family! I’ve also found some great vegatarian soups that are nice to have hot and ready when we get home from work or a long bike ride. We’ve also used slow cookers to keep baked potatoes hot for large dinner parties.
I have been waiting to get a slow cooker just to try the stack of recipes…. pulled pork and brisket…. yogurt and paneer…. and apple sauce… and now this apple butter recipe!!
One of the best things about cooking apple butter: The house smells DIVINE! I leave the lid totally off for the second half of the cooking process to speed things up a bit and to maximize the heavenly scent.
I recently made your orange marmalade and used all mandarin oranges (a rare find at the local Sam’s club), which I have not found again by the way.. but it was the BEST orange marmalade ever…. I got rave reviews and had one friend’s spouse licking the jar! Delicious and definitely on my list of homemade treats to give out
Love the slow-cooker recipe I found for Fig, Bourbon and Vanilla Bean Jam. Will make as much as possible when figs are in season again and this slow-cooker would be perfect.
Happy Holidays!
In the fall, apple butter is my slow cooker obsession, but by this time of year it is all about chili! Would love a new cooker.
I have never used a slow cooker, yep, you heard me right. I have always wanted to have one but it hasn’t ever happened. Even with all the canning and cooking I do for our family of five. I love the idea of making apple butter in it! I made one attempt at apple butter last year and it turned out horribly but that won’t stop me from trying again! With such a large crock pot on hand I would probably keep some stock simmering in it pretty much all the time.
Oh, I like your idea of making the initial applesauce in the slow cooker – I have no idea why this has never occurred to me! I usually procrastinate over making applesauce, simply because making it on the stovetop is annoying, and I need to babysit it so it doesn’t burn.
What my crockpot usually is used for is making roasts and stews/soups. Sadly, I’m dealing with a hairline crack in the crock, so I’ve been babying it along (and making sure to use a liner.
I use my slow cooker for everything. I love to make apple butter in it, and next summer I look forward to trying plum butter. Thanks for a great giveaway!
I tried apple butter in my early housewife days. My husband was hiding in The Middle East and I thought he’d be grateful for the comforting homeyness of apple butter. While it tasted just fine at home, he received a leaking, moldy can of “Oh, no!”. I gave up canning and perfected baking. And mashed potatoes! I’ve recently stepped up and faced canning head on. I’ve had your blog opened almost continuously for the last few weeks! A friend got me to try making pepper jelly and I’ve been hooked. I prize my Church Lady cookbooks but I feel a little more confident having your more “modern” presence to guide me. I’ve made a few of your recipes and they’re easy and perfect. Reading your post on Apple Butter has inspired me to try again, today. Wish me luck! Before I’m off, I’d like to pick your brain about bananas. I found a recipe called “Monkey Banana Jam” that my daughter (my own monkey) adores. We call it Stella Banana Jam. It’s similar to a butter but easier, I think. I make it in small batches for the fridge but would lo to put more away in the pantry but instinctively feel like it wouldn’t keep. The bananas are so brown when they go in, I feel like I’m courting disaster. Or food poisoning.
I don’t have a favorite slow cooker recipe because I don’t own a slow cooker YET. (Hint hint). But I sure do want one!
When I used to have one, I used it mainly for preserves. It was brilliant and I miss it, because now when I make jams and jellies my stovetop gets splattered with molten hot fruit.
I have several slow cookers as well, all different sizes. I would love to add to my collection! I use mine at least twice a week because I can put supper on before work and come home to a ready meal.
I slow cook BBQ brisket in mine!
Soups and stews. Nothing better than split pea soup with a ham bone in the slow cooker. My current slow cooker is the basic on – off – low – high option, so I can really only use it on weekends. I’ve wanted a programmable one so I can set it to cook dinner while I’m at work and come home to a delicious soup or stew on cold winter months.
Other favorite recipes: cream of chicken soup; beef or pork stew; sausage-barley-kale soup (OMG this one is the BEST EVER and can be made vegan).
I’ve tried apple butters, but again, my current slow cooker just isn’t up to the task. It has hot spots as well, making it difficult to leave fruit butters unattended. I would LOVE to have a new one so I can start doing some!!
I know it is not cooking per-se but my favorite use for a slow cooker is gluwein (mulled wine) for the adults and wassail (muller cider) for the kiddos. It has come to be an expected treat by my guests during the fall/winter holidays and some have even given it a go in their own homes.
Slow cooking a dark Mole, letting the chicken soak up all those flavors, is my favorite use : )
I make chili in my crock pot almost weekly.
May favorite use for my slow cooker is baked beans. It’s been awhile since I made apple butter so I think this is a hint to do it again.
i only have 5 crock pots but i would love one like this, i am a vegan so i love cooking pinto beans in mine
I LOVED using my slow cookers this summer for apple sauce. I cleaned, core and sliced them, then pulverized them in my vitamix. After that I cooked them in the slow cooker until it was applesauce. The little bits if peeling “disappeared” as the applesauce cooked. Then, I canned the applesauce, and we are loving it this winter!
I use my slow cooker all the time to cook dried beans. I also use it for stews and soups sometimes.
I love to make Buffalo Chicken dip in it and use it for potlucks. Mine is very old (got it as a recent college grad for a birthday gift–almost cried because it made me feel old at 23!) and bit small (4 qt.). After 19 years, I’m ready for an upgrade!
My favorite slow cooker use is suppers. I’m a pet sitter so I often times work late hours when cooking for an hour at 8:30 p.m. isn’t exactly feasible. So I tend to throw food into the slow cooker before I leave that morning and the husband and I have yummy, warm food ready when we get home!
We need a new slow cooker badly ours is starting to show it’s age with what look to be fine cracks. We love to cook green chili pork, roast chicken, roast turkey breast. I would love a slow cooker that was a little more high tech to try out an apple butter recipe. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love the Hamilton slow cooker! I use it all time. It’s great for holiday get togethers when not everything can go in your over at once!
Pulled pork loin is always a hit and makes my life easy. I experiment with different seasonings such as garlic, teryaki, mexican, onion but plain ol’ pork is also tasty. Thanks for offering the giveaway!
My slow cooker is one of my favorite gadgets, but I would love one of these fancy versions (mine is uber-basic). My favorite use for it these days is slow-cooker lentil soup with bacon. I can finally make good lentil soup (somehow, this eluded me for years), and I love the ease of throwing things into the pot and coming home to delicious dinner.
Thanks for this post! I love using my slow cooker to make yogurt. Comes out great every time!!!
The pear butter from your book. It’s absolutely delicious. I made about 16 batches this fall.
Like you, I have a mini-slow cooker for dips – and, even better, nacho cheese sauce! I love to bring it out for football watching and my kids love it, too. I like to make pulled chicken in my larger slow cooker, but have also been “burnt” by the too-high heat. If not watched closely enough, the chicken gets very dry and the BBQ sauce changes consistency. An auto-warming feature is a huge improvement to the technology!
I use my crock pots for everything! I do have to admit that I tried making apple butter in a crock pot for the very first time a couple of months ago…and I was instantly impressed. I’ve made apple butter the old fashioned way, stirring a big copper kettle for 8-14 hours….and being able to have the same flavor after only 30-45 mins of work was amazing. It is now the only way I ever want to make apple butter again!
I have a no-frills slow cooker that does a great job on apple butter in the fall. I have also used it (oh, pretty much every week) to cook dinner. Nothing better than throwing in some simple ingredients like a port shoulder, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano and ignoring it all day. When dinner comes, just shred the pork and tell the gang you have been slaving over carnitas all day. Low effort, huge reward. Yup, that’s pretty much always the story with the slow cooker.
I love to put a roast for Sunday dinner in on Saturday night and let it cook all night. Then leave it on warm until we are ready to eat. As a mom of five it saves me a lot of time. Unfortunately mine met with an untimely demise a few months ago. Lol, but I love slow cookers!
I love using my slow cooker for pot roast. It comes out perfect every time.