Pumpkin Apple Butter

A plethora of apples occurs this time of year at my house. I needed to use some apples up before they get all weird and soft. I will be using this apple butter in baked goods and plain on a spoon right out of the jar. Its also good slathered on a muffin, a rice cake or on pancakes or added to oatmeal. I love apples. They are full of important antioxidants, flavonoids, and dietary fiber.  Pumpkin is full of vitamin C, riboflavin, potassium, copper, and manganese.

In this recipe, I use a crockpot. I chop up the apples into cubes, pour in the pumpkin, sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with the apple cider vinegar. Turn on for about 4 hours on high or low for 8-10 hours. You can definitely add sweetener if you choose, but these Gala apples are sweet enough for me.

You want to be sure to stir it every once in a while to prevent sticking. When the apples are nice and soft, you can throw in a blender if you desire it to be more like applesauce, but I chose to skip this step because I love the chunks. I did use a masher to break up the big chunks a bit.

To thicken it up at the end, turn the crockpot on high with the lid off and let thicken for about 45-75 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once it's as thick as you like, let cool a bit and store in a glass jar in the fridge.  Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Apple Butter

Ingredients:

• 8 small gala apples (or whatever variety you like, chop into cubes)
• Pumpkin in a can (Preferably organic and just pumpkin as the ingredient)
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp ground cinnamon (or any other spices you want to use such as nutmeg, ginger, etc) 
• 1- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I used Bragg's)
• Any sweetener like honey or maple syrup (optional.) I didn't use any!

Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.