Applesauce

My son’s father-in-law gave me a bunch of apples yesterday. Twenty, to be exact. What am I gonna do with twenty apples? Well, it just so happens that in the past few weeks, I had grown tired of taking my supplements with water and had started taking them with a spoonful of applesauce. And it also just so happens that I had used the last of my applesauce that day. I decided I would try my hand at making my own.

I Googled recipes and settled on one that didn’t use sugar. I buy and like unsweetened applesauce, and that’s what I wanted to make. In the course of my searching, I learned that applesauce is incredibly easy to make. Yay for me since I don’t like complicated recipes. I’ll include the one I followed at the end of the post. On a sidenote, I had enough apples to double the recipe.

First off, I peeled and cut the apples in to large chunks. I’ll do smaller chunks next time to shorten the cooking time.

The apples went in to a large pot, and I added all the other ingredients.

Cover and cook on low medium, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to break down. Because my chunks were so large, my cooking time was quite a bit longer than what the recipe said it would be. Lesson learned. Sidenote: the house smelled wonderful with the mix of apples and spices.

Once the apples were good and soft, I used a potato masher to break them down.

Because I wanted a smoother texture, I then used my immersion blender til it was the consistency I like.

Nice!

I ended up with nearly three quarts of applesauce. And it’s delicious! The cores and peelings got tossed in to my compost pile, so nothing was wasted.

If you’re interested, here’s the recipe I followed.

10-12 apples

1 tsp. cinnamon (ground)

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. nutmeg (ground)

1/2 tsp. cloves (ground)

1 lemon (juiced)

1 cup water

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (optional) Use more water if you prefer not to use. I did use orange juice

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

cinnamon sticks (optional) I did NOT use these but only because I didn’t have any on hand.

Peel all of the apples and cut each apple into large chunks. Place apple pieces in a large pot on the stove over low-medium heat and add in all of the remaining ingredients. Cover with lid.

Cook on low-medium heat until apples break down, ~30-45 minutes. Be sure to stir occasionally. Remove cinnamon sticks when applesauce has finished cooking.

Mash apples with a potato masher for a chunky consistency. For a smoother consistency, puree the applesauce in a food processor or with an immersion blender.

Enjoy cooled down or warm! Store in fridge