Description
Cracker Barrel’s slow cooker fried apples delight taste buds with nostalgic Southern comfort. Cinnamon-spiced apples simmer to tender perfection, offering a sweet side dish perfect for family gatherings. Home cooks can easily recreate this classic recipe.
Ingredients
Scale
- 6 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
- ⅓ cup (65 g) brown sugar (packed)
- ⅓ cup (65 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tbsps unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) apple cider or water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preparation: Meticulously peel, core, and slice apples into uniform half-inch wedges, ensuring precise, consistent cuts for optimal cooking texture.
- Protection: Drizzle lemon juice over apple slices to prevent browning and preserve their pristine, fresh appearance.
- Layering: Arrange apple wedges in slow cooker, creating an overlapping pattern that promotes even heat distribution and flavor integration.
- Seasoning: Generously sprinkle ground cinnamon, brown sugar, and nutmeg across apple layers, allowing spices to meld and create a rich, aromatic base.
- Moisture Enhancement: Strategically distribute butter fragments throughout the apple mixture, ensuring comprehensive caramelization and deep flavor development.
- Slow Cooking: Set slow cooker to low temperature, allowing apples to gently simmer for 3-4 hours, transforming into a tender, intensely flavored delicacy.
- Finalization: Midway through cooking, gently stir contents to prevent sticking and ensure uniform softening; continue cooking until apples reach a fork-tender consistency with slightly translucent, syrupy edges.
- Serving: Transfer to serving dish, letting flavors settle briefly; present warm as an indulgent side or dessert, optionally embellishing with an extra dusting of cinnamon or accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- Choose Apple Variety Wisely: Select firm, tart apples like Granny Smith or Honeycrisp that hold shape during slow cooking and provide balanced sweetness.
- Prevent Apple Browning: Quickly toss sliced apples in lemon juice to maintain fresh color and prevent oxidation, ensuring visually appealing presentation.
- Control Spice Intensity: Adjust cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar ratios to personal taste preferences, creating customized flavor profiles for different palates.
- Enhance Dietary Adaptability: Substitute butter with coconut oil for vegan version or use sugar alternatives like stevia for low-carb and diabetic-friendly adaptation.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2-4 hours
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5
- Calories: 210
- Sugar: 21 g
- Sodium: 80 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 36 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg