Friday, September 21, 2012

Homemade Applesauce

It's that time of year. Apples are getting really good. Being from the state of Washington I remain a loyal fan! Although, I could really go for a pumpkin donut from one of the Green Bluff Orchards in Spokane. If any of you Spokane people would like to overnight me one, I wouldn't mind! But back to apples......

Some very kind friends from church offered to give me a bushel of apples for free! They have a family orchard so they have an abundance. I kindly accepted those apples delivered right to my front door!

Then I summoned my little helper on Wednesday to get going on something "appley." It's a word.

She loves to help. I am bad at letting her help. I have control issues and 6 year olds using knives issues. So I gave her the fun job.

Using the magic apple machine. She can get the apple on there all by herself.

She loves to spin it!

I love that it peels, cores, and slices the apple in about 20 seconds.

And it leaves very little waste. When I peel an apple with a knife I end up eating the parts I cut off because I can't stand to waste them. Cool trick. When you stretch out the leftover apple peel, it is taller than me. Faith thought that was pretty cool!

When it gets to the end she can slide the apple right off. I take off the left behind core since that is a little tough for her and I don't want her to poke herself.

And she can make it boing! I take her work and slice off any part that has peel remaining and then cut the apple in half. Her slave labor was appreciated.

I tossed the apples into my pot as we worked together and stirred in about 2-3 tablespoons of cinnamon. I also added the juice of one lemon and about 1/2 cup water.

I put that on the stove and when it was warm I gave it a little taste and decided that I needed to also add a little Stevia. My apples were fairly tart. So I of course just dumped it in without measuring but a good guess would be about 1/4 cup.

Let the apples cook way down and stir them frequently. It took about 20 minutes for them to be really good and soft and ready for the processor. I did let them cool but only for about 5-10 minutes.

I was being very lazy and didn't want to get out my big processor because I didn't want to have to clean it. This little one is so much easier to clean! I only had to fill this up 4 quick times to process all the apples. I do like my homemade applesauce a little chunky so if you prefer it very smooth get out the big processor.

I put it in this jar to keep in the fridge. No need to can it because we are going to eat this pretty darn quick! It is very yummy! If I was going to do the whole box of apples that was delivered to me I would probably can them and use smaller jars. I will do another batch soon but I want the apples for other things too.

I actually got 2 jars out of my 20 or so apples. The apples were mostly medium sized ones with a few smaller ones too. I made this Wednesday in less than an hour from start to finish. I have nearly eaten one jar by myself already. No big deal though because the only sugar is the natural sugar from the apples.

If you want some free apples too I know a few people you could ask!

Hmmmm.....maybe I need to make some apple donuts next while I wait for that overnight package from Spokane.



So just a few notes........
-I got my magic apple machine for $9.99 at a kitchen type store. Worth every penny!
It suctions to the counter making it very easy to use. It doesn't work very well with large apples however.
-You can make applesauce without it too though. If you have a sieve for making applesauce you don't even half to peel your apples. Pressing the softened apples through the sieve will remove the peel for you.
-You can also use the grinder attachment for your Kitchenaid mixer if you are lucky enough to have one of those.
-You can just peel, core, and dice up your apples the good old fashioned way also!
-If you have no kind of food processor at all cook your apples a bit longer and use a potato masher or ricer. It will be chunkier but still very delicious!
-If you aren't going to eat your applesauce fairly quickly then you need to can it so it will be preserved. 
-Don't skip the fresh lemon juice. It really brings out the natural flavors of the apples much the way salt works for savory things.
-If you don't care for cinnamon applesauce just skip the cinnamon. You may want to up the amount of Stevia in that case.

Homemade Applesauce
18-20 medium sized apples
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup water
2-3 tablespoons cinnamon
1/4 cup Stevia

Directions: Peel, core, and slice your apples. Place them in a large pot with the lemon juice, water, Stevia, and cinnamon. Stir to coat them evenly. Place on the stove and cook over medium heat stirring frequently until very soft or about 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Place in a food processor and process until desired consistency is reached. Store in an air tight container in the fridge. Yields about 4 cups applesauce.

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