Photo: Stetted

With a new baby around, people can’t help but come by with food. And that’s A-OK by me. In fact, it’s part of the unspoken, “welcome home, baby” contract! Having a baby in October means a serious wealth of apples. People can’t help but pick them up at the market or share some of the fruits of their apple picking labor. While having tons of fresh, delicious apples around is great, we’re having a hard time keeping up. When I noticed a bunch starting to look more sad than happy, I started dreaming up all the delicious things I could bake.

Then reality set in… with a snacker on my hands (breast feeding moms, you know the kind: the kids that want to latch and eat, and eat and latch for most of the day!), I’m not yet up to using my free time on big baking projects.  So I set out to make something quick and easy that would still give us that warm apple pie feeling: Homemade Apple Butter!

To keep cooking and cleaning time to a minimum, I decided to make this fresh Autumn treat in the slow cooker. You just throw everything in and let it cook for 6 hours (or until all the liquid has evaporated and a thick spread remains). Easier than pie!

Oh, and you know how I feel about separating out baby food from the rest of our food (such a silly concept!), but I figure it’s worth reminding all you baby mamas (and papas) that this fruit butter is a great first food. Just note the slight adaptations below.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
(can be adapted for kids 6+ mos)

6 organic apples, peeled, cored & cut into 1/4’s
juice of 1/2 an organic orange or lemon*
1/8 c organic light brown sugar*
2 tsp organic cinnamon
1 tsp organic vanilla
1/2 tsp freshly grated organic ginger

1. Throw all ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours. You can adjust cooking time as necessary—you want all of the liquid to evaporate and a thick spread to remain.

*Note: Skip citrus if serving to children under 12+ mos. You can also skip or reduce the sugar for very young eaters.