Crockpot Cranberry Butter
Let the slow cooker do its thing and watch a pot of humble cranberries melt into a glossy, spoonable cranberry butter. It’s the kind of low-effort kitchen magic that makes the whole house feel festive.
Servings: 2 cups
Equipment
- slow cooker
Ingredients
- 24 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 whole cinnamon stick
- 1 cup apple cider
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients in a crockpot and stir to combine well. Turn on high. Let it cook for about 2 hours or until the cranberries are soft.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and puree the mixture in a food processor. Do this in two batches. Be careful as the mixture is hot, I cover the top opening of the machine with a dish cloth. Let the machine run for a full minute to puree the cranberries very finely.
- Force the cranberry puree through a mesh sieve or strainer. Push forcefully with the back of a spoon to get as much cranberry puree as you can. Discard the solids.
- Pour the puree back into the crockpot. Turn the crockpot to high, and leave the lid ajar. Cook until thickened, approximately another 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Put the cranberry butter into clean jars with tight fitting lids and let cool. Store in the refrigerator and consume within a month.
- Makes about 2 cups.
Notes
If you would like to make this on the stove top, use a medium heavy duty non-reactive saucepan and work over medium heat. It will take you about 5 minutes of boiling for step 1. Then for step 4, it will take about 20 minutes or so. Stay with your cranberry butter so it doesn't scorch.
Be sure to remove the cinnamon stick before pureeing the cooked cranberries...I learned the hard way!
Canning safety for cranberry butter: from an acid/safety standpoint this combination of ingredients is appropriate for boiling-water canning. But I couldn’t locate a university extension-published recipe specifically for cranberry butter, though plenty of evidence shows cranberry spreads/high-acid fruit butters have been canned safely when following fruit-puree or fruit-butter water-bath canning methods.
Follow the guidance of the National Center for Home Food Preservation on canning apple-butter.
Freezing cranberry butter: leave 1/2 inch headspace in your jars to allow for expansion in the freezer. Use within 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 Tbsp · Calories: 40 kcal · Carbohydrates: 10 g · Protein: 0.1 g · Fat: 0.04 g · Saturated Fat: 0.003 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.01 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 0.004 g · Sodium: 3 mg · Potassium: 34 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 8 g · Vitamin A: 13 IU · Vitamin C: 3 mg · Calcium: 9 mg · Iron: 0.1 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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