Slow Cooker Holiday Ham

Class is over, class is over, class is over!  …And final exams are here.   Lucky for me, I had about a week in between class being done and final exams starting to come at me – with a holiday party right in between.  Our department has a yearly holiday party, this was my first one since I just transferred over earlier this spring.  Now, before this law school thing, even with grad school – the holidays were a BIG deal for me.  But law school seems almost to suck the holiday spirit right out of you until the last final exam is complete.   So, since we weren’t going to be hosting our own Christmas party, I could at least make my crock pot ham for others to enjoy!  The reviews at the holiday part were all positive and my husband didn’t complain about the cloves this year ( I got smart & removed them before slicing & serving ).

I actually had 2 crock pots going with 2 different fruit chutney mixes, so I’ll actually post the ingredients for both.

Apricot & Brown Sugar Chutney Ingredients:

• 3-6 lbs of precooked Ham.  Spiral ham isn’t necessary.  Just the one in brown sugar works great.
• 1 Cup of Apricot Preserves
• 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1/8 Cup of Raisins
• 1/8 Cup of Dried Cranberries
• 10 -15 Whole Cloves

Apricot & Brown Sugar Ham Instructions:

1. Slice diamond lines into the top of the ham… the cuts only go in about 1/4″ or so.
2. Where the lines intersect, place in a clove.  for a 3 lb ham – about 7-10 cloves.  (the 1st picture shows where the cloves are placed and how the lines are cut)
3. In a medium sized bowl – mix the rest of the ingredients (apricot preserves, brown sugar, raisins, & dried cranberries).
4. Place the ham in the slow cooker
5. Cover the ham with the fruit mix
6. Cook on high for about 6 hours.
7. Every hour, baste the ham with the fruit chutney so that it stays moist and glazes the ham beautifully.
8. Once the ham is ready, pop out the ham from the slow cooker and let rest for a bit before slicing.
9. As for the fruity goodness at the bottom – scoop that into a serving dish and have guests pour a bit over their ham slices (like gravy to a turkey)

Pineapple & Cherry Chutney Ingredients:

• 3-6  lbs of precooked Ham.
• (3/4) of a 20 oz Can of Crushed Pineapple
• 1/4 Cup of Apricot Preserves
• (3/4) of a 10 oz Jar of Maraschino Cherries (without the stems)
• 10 -15 Whole Cloves

Pineapple & Cherry Ham Instructions:

1. Slice diamond lines into the top of the ham… the cuts only go in about 1/4″ or so.
2. Where the lines intersect, place in a clove.  for a 3 lb ham – about 7-10 cloves.  (the 1st picture shows where the cloves are placed and how the lines are cut)
3. In a medium sized bowl – mix the rest of the ingredients (15 oz of Crushed Pinapple, Apricot preserves, Cherries).
4. Place the ham in the slow cooker
5. Cover the ham with the fruit mix
6. Cook on high for about 6 hours.
7. Every hour, baste the ham with the fruit chutney so that it stays moist and glazes the ham beautifully.
8. Once the ham is ready, pop out the ham from the slow cooker and let rest for a bit before slicing.
9. As for the fruity goodness at the bottom – scoop that into a serving dish and have guests pour a bit over their ham slices

Ham hanging out in the crockpot, about to be basted… again.

Ham all sliced up and ready to head to the party and fruit chutney in serving dishes.