Easy Homemade Applesauce

I could not believe how easy and fast it was to make applesauce! I'm not sure why I thought it would be difficult, but it wasn't. If you can make homemade mashed potatoes, you can make applesauce.

I went through my "Joy of Cooking" book and found this recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

3 pounds of apples - have a variety of 3

1/2 cup apple juice or cider 

1/2 squeezed lemon juice

1 large cinnamon stick

1/2 cup sugar - white or turbinado or 6 Tbls honey

Optional - 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Optional - 1/2 tsp ground mace

Optional - 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Wash and thinly slice up the apples. I had Granny Smith, Gala, and Honey Crisp apples.

Place in a heavy cooking pot with the juice and cinnamon sticks and squeeze 1/2 lemon over.

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir often over low heat.

Apples should be tender, but nut mushy.

Add the sugar or honey and any optional ingredients you wish to flavor. FYI - I did not care for the mace. 

Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the cinnamon stick and use a potato masher to mush into sauce. Depending on your level of chunkiness desired, use a spoon for much chunky, a masher for medium chunky and a food processor for a smooth sauce. Give your kids a job and let them mush up the apples. 

I made 1/3 of this recipe, and it was the perfect amount for my family of 3. I like medium chunky and I did not add any optional ingredients into my sauce. I left the skins on, again like mashed potatoes. Next time, I would cut the apple slices in half to have smaller pieces of peel in my sauce. 

Make it along with some pork chops tonight! 

Everyday should be this sweet!

Enjoy

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