When life gives you apples ...

Why hello! So today we are journeying back to the world of baking again. Well, not really baking because we are talking about applesauce. But you know what I mean! So to start things off, if you are here looking for a very precise measured recipe for applesauce this is the wrong place for you! I don't follow any recipe when I make applesauce, I just go for it. I decided that it would be a great time to make some applesauce since my boyfriend and I went applepicking with both of our parents last weekend and I disregarded the fact that my boyfriend and I live alone and he's gone 5 days a week at the police academy and went ahead and bought about 50 apples. Not even a joke. So I'm gonna eat apple stuff for weeks but thats fine because I'm one of those annoying people who adores fall. Anyway, applesauce. Start with a big pot. A nice big pot. All of your ingredients are going to go in said pot. I use whatever apples I happened to pick for applesauce. For eating, I typically prefer Pink Lady apples, but for applesauce I'm really not too picky!

For apple cutting, peeling and coring I happen to have a glorious apple cutter, peeler and corer. If you do not have one of these, you can obviously cut and peel those apples yourself! Don't you worry! But I would recommend using one of theses miraculous contraptions if you can get your hands on one. They often have them at antique/consignment shops. 

Look at how fancy this is! I know! You stick your apple on the little spikes, and then twist it through the round blade which cores and slices it while the little blade on the side peels it. This glorious machine does sometimes have an issue if you put an extremely large or very misshapen apple on it, but overall it works really well. Whether you are using this machine or not, just cut your apples into fairly small pieces so it's easy for them to cook down. Add your apples to the big pot along with some lemon juice and water. The amount of either depends on how tangy and soupy you like your applesauce, but just put enough so that your apples don't burn at the bottom of your pot. Keep the heat on the burner just above medium the whole time you are cooking the applesauce. 

At this point I add some brown sugar, regular granulated sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and butter and mix it all up and let it sit for maybe 20 minutes on the heat. I add more brown sugar than granulated sugar, a huge amount of cinnamon and not very much butter. All of this depends on your taste. Put some in and try a spoonful and see how you feel! Its always easier to add more; you can't really undo it once you've added too much sugar or butter. This is usually what I want my applesauce to look like before I call it done.

I like my applesauce chunky so at this point all I would do is squish it up a little with a potato masher or the back of a big spoon, but if you prefer smoother apple sauce you can feel free to let it cool a little and pop it in a blender or use an immersion blender right in the pot. 

So basically thats all! As I said above, I didn't want this to be an in-depth recipe for applesauce since I'm stubborn and often don't follow recipes. I just wanted to show the basic way that I make applesauce and help you see how easy and versatile it can be! Enjoy!

​ - Rebecca