Applesauce For Ashley, Recipe for You, And A Few Ideas!!

This recipe/blog is in honor of my daughter-in-law Ashley, whose birthday is in a few days. She is a huge fan of my homemade applesauce and even messaged me that she wished she could order it by the barrel. It is my family favorite and I have made gallons through the years. Today I am making her some for her special day and so I decided to blog it as well. Every family has their own applesauce recipe, I know, but if you want to try something a little different this is ours. Try it next time on some French toast, pancakes or waffles for a change of pace. Also, I add it to my pancake and waffle batters, and make a family favorite applesauce bread and applesauce turkey loaf (see note)

This is what I do, step by step: This is for a lightly chunky applesauce, our preference

Place 2 large or 3 small cinnamon sticks in the bottom of my pan

Wash, peel and cut up 8 very large or 10 medium Macintosh apples (or apple of choice)

Toss apples in my pan with a scant 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to start off and 1/2 cup of a 100 percent pure apple juice (if not enough cinnamon or sugar for you, taste, stir in a little more in the end)

Bring just to a boil, covered, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (lesson learned the hard way)

Turn down heat, stir and simmer covered for about 15 minutes, using a wooden spoon or utensil press down on the apple pieces, they should begin to smash down, once they all have mostly smashed, give a vigorous stir, turn off heat, uncover and let finish off uncovered until the burner has cooled off (time will depend on size of pieces)

Remove cinnamon sticks and refrigerate once cool

I am a firm believer in freezing applesauce, I think it is even better once defrosted

Please note I also posted a crockpot applesauce recipe on here years ago if you want to go that route

Note: I have my applesauce turkey meatloaf recipe on here also

I know that in these times, sometimes you have to take whatever apple your market has, my only tip there is to be sure you taste your apple, if it is very tart you might need another TBSP of sugar, if really sweet I cut back to 2 TBSP. I also find that granny smith apples for some reason don't make a great applesauce, they seem to take forever to cook down, but are great for pies for that reason. That is your choice, it is your kitchen after all, because I am not a fan of them, does not mean you are not.

Happy Cooking, Be Safe,