Quick and Easy Homemade Applesauce Recipe
Recently, a friend gave me a bag of McIntosh apples. While I love apples, I was not sure how my family was going to make great use out of so many of the same variety. My husband voted for making a pie. Of course that meant I would have to take quite a bit of time preparing for it, getting extra ingredients like lemon, and then baking it. Too much work and time. So after my son and daughter had their fill of eating quite a few straight up, I simply peeled, cut in quarters, and cored the remaining apples. They were then placed in a zip lock bag until I figured out what to do.
Finally, it hit me…applesauce. Being fall, this idea should have come to mind much sooner. I surfed the internet to see if making homemade applesauce was easier than the alternatives. It took nothing at all to find “Sarah’s Applesauce” recipe. While this recipe was simple, I made some adjustments to suit my purposes, for example, the number of apples and the type and amount of sweetener.
Ingredients:
- 5 medium apples
- ¾ cup water
- 1 Tbs honey
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Directions:
1.Peel, core, and rough chop apples
2.Add apples, water, honey, and cinnamon to a pot
3.Cook on medium-high heat until apples are tender, about 6-8 minutes depending on variety
4.Mash the apples to desired texture
5.Let cool in pot for 15 minutes
End Notes
- The end result is an applesauce that is not laden with preservatives and sugar. The taste is bright and fresh. For this recipe it was great that the variety was McIntosh. They are sweet with a little tang, almost like a cross between a Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. To me, McIntosh apples are like a more economical Honeycrisp apple.
- The original recipe called for four apples, but since I had so many apples, I upped the amount to five. I kept the amount of water the same though. I wanted a chunkier applesauce that would let you know it was homemade. The cut apples measured about 4 ½ cups. The amount once it was cooked was 2 1/3 cups.
- In the original recipe, a quarter cup of white sugar was used. I switched to honey and a lesser amount to reduce the amount of sugar while using a more natural source of sweetness. If you also opt for honey, you can lightly coat your measuring spoon with oil so it will slide off easier.
- Once you have your applesauce, you can try your hand at one of the recipes featured to the right!
