I've never been much of a cook. It's not that I don't like to cook. I am just not very adventurous when it comes to food, and I'm picky. So, when my husband and I moved in together, he took over about 80% of the cooking. He is always encouraging me to make things from scratch. I am usually pretty reluctant because the recipe seems 'hard" or "a lot of work". So last year after we went apple picking he suggested I make homemade applesauce. I figured, well, I might as well try to since we have bags of apples to use up. Let me tell you, it is so easy. I am super glad he encouraged me to make it! I look forward to apple picking and making applesauce each Fall now :)
There are tons of recipes for applesauce, but they are all pretty much the same. This will be more of a step-by-step tutorial, and you can use whatever ingredients you like.
Before we get going, I have to admit that modern technology helps me greatly during my applesauce-making. We received a Pampered Chef apple peeler/corer/slicer as a wedding gift. If it wasn't for that thing, I am almost certain I would not be making applesauce. It does all of the work for you, and quickly too!
Ok, so take your family or friends or significant other or dog (or anyone else that might be fun) and go the apple orchard. Pick some beautiful apples, go on a hayride and blow up your friends' Instagram feed. When you get home, make sure to wash all of the apples, as sometimes there is *eh-hmm* droppings and such on them.
Once you have all of the fruit washed, you can begin peeling, coring and slicing. If you don't have a fancy doo-hickey that does the work for you, I am certain there are youtube videos covering various methods for hand-peeling.
I recommend putting a cutting board underneath your workspace, the apples tend to be messy. About 7 apples in, I pulled back the tablecloth and actually put a kitchen towel underneath the cutting board - the apple juice was getting everywhere!
Once you are finished peeling all of the apples, you will get a big bowl of apples ready-to-cook and a big bowl of scraps. While I was peeling the apples, my husband was reading all of these recipes for things you can do with apple peels (make tea, potpourri, etc.). I decided to compost them (the other recipes sounded hard....)
Depending on how many apples you have, you may need a very large stockpot. I should have used a larger one, but we didn't have one, so I just had overflowing apples!
From there, you add some water and whatever sugar and spices you want to use. I recommend brown sugar over white. I used a lot of cinnamon and a little bit of pumpkin pie spice - it adds a little spice and zing that you don't get from the cinnamon.
I should have mentioned before, but applesauce takes several hours to cook. The more apples you have, the longer it takes. I think this batch took 5 or 6 hours. You don't need to be standing in front of the stove the entire time, but you should definitely be at home and keeping an eye on it. Making applesauce is a great activity to pair with watching your plants grow, finding your lost socks, or a Netflix marathon.
Basically, you keep the applesauce at a simmer. Occasionally give it a stir and taste test, add sugar and spices as you feel necessary. The more you stir your applesauce, the smoother it will get. Some people mash theirs with a masher, but this seems unnecessary to me as the applesauce has a nice consistency and texture by the time all of the water and juice is cooked out.
And that is what it looks like when it is done (and you have canned six jars of it and forgot to take a picture before you started canning...). We ended up with 9 jars of applesauce. You don't have to put it in jars; we like to because pretty much I am the only one who eats it and I don't want it to go bad.
So that's it, really. Pretty simple stuff. And it makes a great side dish for Thanksgiving, plus then you don't have to worry about getting to the store when all the crazies are there!
What is your favorite thing to make from scratch? Let me know in the comments below!
