Take your soft, sweet apples and slice them into small chunks, about ¾ inch. You don’t have to worry about peeling them; leaving the skin on adds texture and nutrients. Discard the cores as you go along.

Once you've chopped the apples, place them all into the basin of your generous slow cooker. It’s fine if it looks full; they will cook down beautifully.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, salt, ground cloves, and the exciting splash of ground ginger. Stir everything until it's well-combined, and you can just smell that warm, inviting aroma wafting through your kitchen.

Pour the sugar and spice concoction over the apple chunks in the slow cooker. Give it a good stir to ensure that every piece of apple is coated in that sweet mixture.

Cover the slow cooker and set it to cook on low for 10 hours. Yes, you read that right! Let those flavors meld and develop, resulting in a deep, rich mixture.

Once 10 hours have passed, remove the lid and use an immersion blender to puree the apple mixture until it reaches a smooth consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can transfer the mixture to a regular blender in batches, then return it to the slow cooker.

Scrape the seeds from the inside of the vanilla bean and add them into the smooth apple mixture. If you’re using vanilla extract, just pour it in and stir thoroughly.

Turn your slow cooker back on to low heat. Leave the lid off and allow it to cook for another 2 hours, stirring occasionally. This step thickens the mixture even more, giving it that lovely apple butter consistency.