The smell of apples slowly cooking in butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar is very wonderful. It makes you think of home, the holidays, and times when the simplest dishes made you happy. These Slow Cooker Cracker Barrel Fried Apples are a perfect illustration of this. They are sweet, soft, and spiced apples that melt in your mouth and remind you of warm meals and old-fashioned candy. This slow cooker version of the popular side dish from Cracker Barrel restaurants tastes just as warm and nostalgic, but it’s a lot easier to make.
This recipe is fantastic since it tastes delicious and is easy to make. You can make a dish with fresh apples that goes well with pork chops or vanilla ice cream with only a few easy things and your slow cooker doing most of the work. This dish is easy to make and always turns out well. The scent alone is worth the wait.
You have to peel, core, and cut up six big Granny Smith apples. These apples are ideal for slow cooking since they stay solid and don’t turn to mush. Plus, their sour taste balances out the sweetness of the meal. After you cut the apples up, you put them right into the slow cooker. This is the main ingredient that makes this food so good.
You put together some ground nutmeg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and ground cinnamon in another basin. The apples taste rich and caramel-like because of the mix of sugars and spices. They also have a hint of warmth and spice. The brown sugar makes a sweet syrup, and the cinnamon and nutmeg bring out the apples’ natural sweetness and smell. This sugar and spice blend is generously sprinkled over the apples, so every slice has a lot of taste.
The magic happens when you pour ¼ cup of melted unsalted butter and ¼ cup of water over the apples that have been sugared. The meal has a rich, deep flavor that is typical of Cracker Barrel thanks to the butter. The water helps everything mix together and keeps the apples from drying out while they cook.
When everything is in the slow cooker, gently stir the apples to mix the sugars and spices. Put the lid on the slow cooker and turn it to LOW for around three hours. The apples get softer and take up all the sweet, buttery, and spicy flavor during this time. The slow cooker approach, on the other hand, makes sure that the heat is mild and even, which means that the apples will soften without losing their shape. There won’t be any mushy fruit here; just chunks that are cooked perfectly.
You should thicken the sauce after the apples have cooked and released their juices. A basic mix of cornstarch and lemon juice works well here. Combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice until there are no lumps. The lemon juice makes the apples and sugars taste better, which balances out the sweetness. Put this mix in the slow cooker and crank the heat up to HIGH. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the sauce reaches the right thickness. It goes from thin and syrupy to thick and shiny, which is fantastic for putting on food.
These fried apples taste best when they are warm. You can eat them by themselves, but you can also use them over pancakes, waffles, or French toast, or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. If you want to treat yourself, put them on top of a slice of pound cake or a warm biscuit. This is the best comfort food from the South.
You may make these Slow Cooker Cracker Barrel Fried Apples for a family meal, a holiday breakfast, or just because you want something warm and sweet on a quiet afternoon. They are cheap, simple to operate, and may be used in many different ways. They taste like dessert and feel like a hug in a bowl. The slow cooker makes everything easy, and the end result is something special: a classic comfort food that brings people together, one warm mouthful at a time.