Homemade Applesauce– Sweet and Tart–Not Diet and Diet

I love apple season and what better use for all those apples but applesauce? It’s great by itself, with meat, poultry,  over ice cream , yogurt or pancakes,  in muffins, any time you feel like applesauce.  Easy shopping list, most ingredients you probably have in the house. If you’d like you can add a pinch of nutmeg or allspice. A little butter or maple syrup is also a good thought. I used a little bit of maple syrup ( maybe 1/4 cup) . Play around with flavors. Quick prep time , very easy to make, 3 lbs. will probably serve around 6 – 8 people. Cook Time is about 1/2 hour.

This is the obvious more fattening way to go, I also wrote up a more diet conscious recipe for those looking to cut calories and it’s on this page as well. It is obviously more tart than the sweet one, you can add a little sugar-free maple syrup if you’d like.

Your kitchen will smell glorious. Enjoy!

Pantry ingredients:

Lemon, Brown Sugar, Maple Syrup, Cinnamon, Allspice, Butter, Nutmeg.

Shopping List:

Apples, Apple Juice or Apple Cider

Ingredients:

3 lbs. apples , peeled, cored and cut into 8 slices (any kind you have) I had Macintosh in the house and just used them

1/2 cup Apple Juice or Apple Cider

Juice of 1 Lemon, a small regular lemon is fine

1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon, more or less to taste

*1/4 cup of pure maple syrup, you can use sugar-free maple syrup

*1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

*1/2 teaspoon Allspice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large enough pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes, till apples break down. Now I like a chunky applesauce and it broke down so beautifully in 1/2 hour, I just mashed with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon.  If you’d like it smooth and not chunky puree it in food processor. It really broke down so beautifully a few mashes with a masher and it was perfect for a chunkier like consistency.

Store in the fridge.  Will keep for a week or two. Joel ate it all the next day so that was the end of that.

Enjoy!

Diet Version of Homemade Applesauce:

Ingredients:

12 medium apples, peeled cored and sliced (use whatever kind you have on hand)

2 sticks cinnamon if no cinnamon sticks , sprinkle ground cinnamon over apples.

Directions:

Place apples and cinnamon in a large Pyrex type dish with a lid or cover with aluminum foil.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours

Allow to cool slightly and remove cinnamon sticks.

Crush apples with a potato masher until sauce is consistency that you like .

Serve with Latkes.

Enjoy!