Category Archives: Breakfast

Slow-Cooker Spiced Apple Butter

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Extra apples? This easy slow-cooker apple butter requires minimal stirring and fuss – and makes the house smell wonderful while it bubbles away.


Blame it on baking ADD, but when I spied a few empty jam jars piled next to the basket of homegrown apples, my thoughts quickly turned from classic apple pies and apple frangipane tarts to jars of thick, slow-simmered, spiced apple butter. Since the slow-cooker does most of the work, I was back to baking in no time – while the scent of slow-cooked apples wafted through the house.

Slow-Cooker Spiced Apple Butter

  • Servings: Two half-pint jars
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Extra apples? This easy slow-cooker apple butter requires minimal stirring and fuss - and makes the house smell wonderful while it bubbles away.


Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. apples
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar + additional as needed
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon (or ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ teaspoon Chinese 5 spice)

Directions

  1. Peel, core and roughly dice apples. Place in a slow cooker on low. Cover apples with sugar, vinegar, and salt. Optional: wrap the apple peels in cheesecloth and add to the slow cooker for added flavor.
  2. Give butter a quick stir every hour or so. After cooking for 8 hours, stir in cinnamon and give it a taste. If it’s very tart, consider adding another 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar. Remember: the butter will continue to cook down, concentrating the sweetness, so only add if the butter is very tart.
  3. Let simmer on low for 10-12 hours total, stirring occasionally until very dark and very thick. Taste and determine if additional brown sugar is needed. To check if butter is done, place a bit on a spoon and move it away from the pot for 2-3 minutes. The apple butter is done if it holds its shape on the spoon.
  4. Once butter is the correct consistency, add to sanitized jars, seal, and process in a water bath for 5 minutes. This recipe should result in 2 half-pint jars of butter. If you don’t need butter to be shelf-stable, refrigerate. There’s no need to process in the water bath.

Tip: If you don’t have 12 hours in your schedule, no problem. Cook the butter for as long as you can, transfer to the fridge (you can keep it in the dish), and begin again the next day.

Apple Butter
Blame it on this sight.

Nectarine Coffee Cake

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Fresh summer fruit keeps this Nectarine Coffee Cake moist. Try substituting the nectarines for other seasonal fruit like cherries or pears.

Coffee cake with fresh nectarines
The nectarine tree in the front yard is pregnant with fruit. The firm, juicy orbs are days away from their peak ripeness.  The bounty came late this year. The heavy clusters already snapping a large branch, an annual occurrence.  I should cull them in March, but I feel guilty not giving each one the chance to ripen.  A few sun-soaked fruit are ready to burst.  This weekend, I plucked two of these soft, round globes of goodness and consumed them sun-warmed and straight from the tree – juice dripping unabashedly down my chin. A handful more made it into this moist nectarine coffee cake.

Today’s Recipe:


Nectarine Coffee Cake

  • Servings: 6-8 Servings
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Fresh summer nectarines keep this cake moist. Try substituting the nectarines for other seasonal fruit like cherries or pears.


Ingredients

    Cake
  • 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 ¼ lbs. nectarines, cut into ½ inch wedges
    • Topping
  • 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch nutmeg
  • ⅓ cup apricot jam

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9” springform pan. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in flour (batter with be thick).
  2. Spread batter in prepared pan. Press nectarine wedges halfway into batter in concentric circles, spacing slightly apart. Combine remaining sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle over nectarines. Bake until cake is golden and tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Release pan sides. Cool for 10 minutes.
  3. Warm apricot jam in microwave 30 seconds. Sieve jam and brush over coffee cake. Serve warm or room temperature.