Crock Pot Strawberry Fruit Spread - 3 Ingredients

My kids love toast. And they love PB&J. But I hate buying jelly and jam at the store because it's either packed full of sugar or super expensive. Besides, I love the satisfaction of making things myself. So when I came across this recipe for Strawberry Honey Jam, I knew I had to try it. But because I can't just follow directions, I had to turn it into a crock pot recipe. Besides, it's impossible for me to monitor something cooking on the stove for an hour. Knowing me, all the moisture would cook out and it would get dried and burnt to the pan. Also, I cut the recipe down to use only 1 pound of strawberries because I wasn't sure how it would turn out, and I didn't have enough jars for 6 pounds. So, here we go:

This will make about 2 cups of jam which fits nicely into a pint-size jar.

Ingredients:
1 lb. frozen or fresh strawberries, hulled
2/3 c honey
1/3 apple (for natural pectin), grated with skin on (I sliced with an apple slicer and grated 3 slices in a food processor.)
1t lemon juice (This is for preserving, so if you're canning you'll need it, but otherwise it's not necessary. In this small of a batch you probably don't need it, but I wanted to include it in case you decide to make and can a large batch.)

Directions:
1. Place strawberries, grated apple, honey, (and lemon juice if using), in a small (1.5 qt) crock pot and stir.
2. Cook on low about 3 hours, until fruit is all mushy.
3. Vent lid with a spoon and continue cooking another 3-4 hours to let some of the moisture out. You may want to monitor it to make sure it doesn't dry out, but after 4 hours mine was still fairly liquidy.
4. Smoosh with potato masher, let cool, then spoon into jar and refrigerate or freeze.

~This has a more liquidy consistency than "regular" jam because it has no pectin added, but after a few hours in the fridge it will become a bit more jellied. It's more of a "fruit spread" than a "jam," and would be fantastic as topping on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, granola etc.
~ This small batch disappeared in about 2 days at my house. So the next time I doubled it, using strawberries and peaches, and a whole apple. YUMMY! I believe this will be a new staple in my house. I'm gonna need a few more crock pots, I think!
{this post originally appeared here}