Applesauce! A classic!

Mike loves homemade applesauce, and his mom’s will always be his standard for perfection. I’m getting pretty close though! Applesauce is not something I enjoy eating, but I like making it for Mike, and it makes the house smell delicious! We recently went apple picking, so I knew I made to get cooking (pun intended) with these apples before they turned icky. So I’m not exactly sure what kind of apples I ended up using in this batch, except for a Granny Smith. Otherwise, it’s a bunch of small red apples.

This is my new standard for sauce, but feel free to take this and run and celebrate your own special mix! I have my measurements listed, but I feel that this recipe is the perfect place to make it your own special sauce, so if you don’t like clove, don’t add it! Experiment and get crazy! Let me know what you put in yours! 🙂

Ingredients:

6 apples- I used 5 small red type apples, and 1 large Granny Smith

1 teaspoon cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon clove

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup total of brown and white sugar * mix to your liking- I did about ¼ cup of each

2 cups of water- add a little more water if you want a very thin/runny sauce, add a little less if you want a thicker sauce

Let’s make some sauce:

Core and slice your apples. I cut my Granny Smith slices in half so they were about the same size as my little red ones. I kept the skin on my apples because Mike likes the extra fiber. If you don’t want that, peel your apples!

Dump everything in the pot: apples, spices, sugars, and water.

Cook for 30 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally just to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.

After 30 minutes, cover and simmer for 10 minutes on a low heat.

This is fun part: mash or blend your apples to your desired consistency. I use an immersion blender and it’s my favorite kitchen gadget. Mike’s mom uses a food mill, while others like to use a potato masher. You can make your applesauce silky smooth, or leave it a little chunky. I opted for the silky smooth route!