Updated: Recipes from Our Backyard: Applesauce

apples

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Originally written July 17, 2012:

My husband and I are blessed to have a very fruitful apple tree in our backyard in Chattanooga. Unfortunately, we missed the peak season in June because Cobalt was  in Johnson City getting ready for our wedding. But once we returned to Chattanooga after our honeymoon, we picked all the apples we could find. While harvesting them late gave us more mushy apples, we were still able to find several crispy ones.

With the mushy apples, I made applesauce (recipe below); and with the crispier ones, I made apple crisp.

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Apple Sauce

Ingredients:

    • 10-15 apples — peeled, cored and cubed
    • 1/2 cup of white sugar
    • 2 TBS ground cinnamon
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • 1-2 cups water (I’d like to add apple juice next time because my apples are super tart!)

Directions:

Step 1: Pick Apples (the mushy ones are okay!) or buy them at the grocery store (granny smiths are the best)

Step 2: Peel apples

Step 3: Core and slice apples. Pour sugar and cinnamon/spices on top. Pour water over everything.

Step 4: Cook apples 30 minutes on HIGH, stirring occasionally to keep apples from burning.

Step 5: At 30 min, turn slow cooker to LOW and cook apples 3-5 hours, stirring occasionally.*

Step 6: Let applesauce cool 15 minutes or so before storing it in an airtight container (like a Mason jar) to put in the fridge.

Step 8: Serve apple butter warm or cold on biscuits, bread, muffins, pancakes. . .you name it! :)

 *NOTE: Cooking time depends on your preference of apple butter chunkiness vs. smoothness. The longer the apples cook, the more they’ll “cook down,” meaning the smoother they’ll be. So, if you like smooth apple butter, cook the mixture longer. If you like it REALLY smooth, stir it with a whisk near the end of cooking. However, if you prefer your apple butter chunky like my husband and I do, cook the apples for 3 or so hours; and/or add more fresh apples halfway through cooking.

You can also make microwave applesauce in 3 minutes or less!

applesauce1

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