On a cool fall day, what better thing is there than to make applesauce? Especially when Hanukkah is drawing near. And now that it is here, you need applesauce more than ever, right?
Since I am a lazy cook, here is a recipe for lazy applesauce.
You need several pounds of cooking apples. But they don't have to be cooking apples. I've used Gala and even Honeycrisp.
Be aware, some apples will produce a grainy applesauce. Macouns and MacIntosh will make a nice, smooth sauce. I like mine a little chunky. Cortlands and Pippins, if you can get them, will make a chunkier sauce. The harder the apple flesh, the grainier. Tartness is a personal preference.
So: take your favorite apples. Wash them.
Core the apples. Cut into pieces, perhaps 8 pieces per apple. Peeling is optional. Put the apples in a pot. Add about 3/4 of a cup of water, or, if you have it, apple juice or apple cider. If you want sugar, use brown sugar.
Cook the apples under medium low heat until they are ready to be mashed with an apple masher, perhaps 25 minutes. Add cinnamon or cloves to taste. Let the aroma float through your house. Savor the aroma. It's time for comfort food. Puree it if you like. I don't. I'm lazy.
Some people add butter. I do not.
One thing I've done in recent years is add raspberries to the sauce. We weren't able to pick raspberries last year, but had the chance to pick raspberries last year and still had some in the freezer.
If you do, just be sure to strain all those small seeds out.
My Mom used to make applesauce with cinnamon candies, which dyed the sauce red. It's a wonderful memory for me. In turn, I made applesauce with my young son, years ago. He's graduated to peppery hot sauce now. He even grows his own jalapeños for it.
Serve your applesauce, fragrant with the scents of autumn, warm. Or cold. Serve with potato pancakes (as spouse did on the first day of applesauce). Or, just eat it as is.
One final thought - remember those cores and peels (if you peeled your apples?) You don't want to throw them out. On Saturday, I plan to give you a recipe that will use them.
Do you like applesauce? How do you make it?
I let Mott’s make my applesauce....
ReplyDeleteNo peeling!!!!
ReplyDeleteAn apple masher? I had no idea such a thing existed. I've only ever had store bought applesauce, and not for years.
ReplyDeleteWe have 2 Fuji apple trees that we don't spray so the fruit gets a bit wormy but perfect for applesauce! I use a Foley Food Mill so don't peel just cut. I freeze in freezable glass pint jars. I love it and with Latkes, heaven. A friend uses red hots in her applesauce to make it red.
ReplyDeleteMmmm...warm apple sauce. It just doesn't get better than this!
ReplyDeleteI made my Hanukkah applesauce with Honey Crisps for the first time this year and I was not sorry! Wish I had known you had something to do with the cores and skins, I'm sorry to have thrown them out.
ReplyDelete