Applesauce is perfect for all of those leftover apples. Applesauce is versatile. Use it in baking as a substitute for oil, butter or eggs, use as a sauce for pork, as an easy snack for babies or just eat it as is in it’s simplistic deliciousness.
I like the idea of getting extra fiber when I eat and use applesauce so I do mine a little different then you’d normally see.
First I wash all of the apples really well. I put them in a sink filled with water and 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar. I let them sit for 10 minutes or so and then drain and rinse well.
Next, I slice the apples with my apple slicer/corer WITH THE PEEL ON! I used to spend endless amounts of time peeling apples always feeling like, “Here goes that heart healthy fiber!” So I now slice with the peels ON. I just start accumulating all of the slices in a large pot that I’ll use on the stove. I’ve also used my slow cooker to cook this all day. The choice is your’s what you use. The benefit of the slow cooker versus the stove is that you can use a slow cooker liner and it eliminates a lot of the cleanup. Either way add the apples to the pot or crockpot, add a cup or two of water and get cooking!
If you are using the crockpot, I cooked on low for 4 to 6 hours. For the stove, I cooked on medium heat until the apples were soft enough to be cut with a spoon. If you love cinnamon like we do, feel free to add some. I don’t have an exact measurement, just add tablespoon or so. An alternative is you can add the cinnamon after you’ve put the apples in a food processor or Magic Bullet. NOTE: I do NOT add sugar to my apples. I’ve found that they are sweet enough as is. But if you want to add sugar you can start with 1/2 cup brown sugar. But be daring, try it without sugar and I doubt you’ll be disappointed!
Once you can cut the apples with a spoon, pour them into a food processor and pulse until you can’t detect peels and the mixture looks smooth.
After that you can decide how you want to store it. I put mine into quart freezer bags and laid flat in my freezer. You can also can it, or if your family loves applesauce it’ll hold in the refrigerator for a week or two.
