This slow-cooker apple butter is like deep, dark gold, it’s so intensely flavorful. Use a sweet-tart mixture of apples, like Honeycrisp, Cortland, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith. The effort to peel, core and slice all of the apples is going to pay off…you can use a melon baller to remove the cores. Orange blossom adds a beautiful flavor note with the apples. Swirl a spoonful into your oatmeal, or spread the butter on something toasty. It’s also delicious with pork, and the best eaten straight from the (Weck) jar.
Place the apples in a slow cooker and set the temperature to low. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves and salt. Pour over the apples and mix until all of the apples are coated.
Cook on low in the slow cooker for 10 hours (total time is 12 hours),stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
Stir in the vanilla and orange blossom water and cook another 2 hours uncovered to release more of the moisture and further thicken the apple butter.
Puree the mixture in a blender or in the pot using an immersion blender.
Spoon into clean jars and cool. Cover with lids and refrigerate or freeze immediately—we have not canned for pantry shelf-life. The apple butter will keep for at least two weeks in the refrigerator.