Applesauce

Some of my favorite memories of my mom is of making applesauce with her.  When I was studying abroad in England during my junior year, I even made a batch to remind myself of home.  I usually only make it in the Fall when apples are in season and I can go to Carter’s Mountain to get them fresh off the tree.  But, to continue off Sunday’s theme of pancakes, I went ahead and included a recipe for my favorite pancake accompaniment. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Ingredients

7 large apples

1 1/2 cup water*

Sugar or honey to taste

½ tsp cinnamon (more to taste)

¼  tsp nutmeg

Pinch of salt

*I like to experiment with flavoring the water I use to boil the apples.  Sometimes that infusion entails just boiling water and letting a cinnamon stick or ginger root (or both) seep for 10 minutes or so.  When I was making this recent batch, I used one chamomile tea bag and a left over piece of ginger root.  One day, I have some apple infused bourbon that I might try. 

Directions:

1.   Peel, core, and slice the apples.  I invested in an apple-peeler about a year ago and never looked back.  It peels, cores, and will cut every slice the same size.  Plus, it really cuts back on time.

2.   Place the apple slices in a 4-qt pot.  Then pour in about 1 ½ cups liquid.  Cover with a lid and cook over medium-high heat until the liquid starts to boil. 

3.   When the liquid starts to boil, stir the apples, moving the ones that have been cooking in the liquid to the top and allowing the ones on the top a chance to cook in the liquid. Cover the apples back up and reduce the heat to a low setting.  Cook for one hour.  Try to stir them every 10 minutes or so to get more even cooking. 

4.   At the hour mark, take the cover off the apples.  Break them up a little with a potato masher.  Cook an additional fifteen minutes without the lid to allow some of the liquid to cook off. 

5.   Once the apples are cooked, there are a couple options, use a hand-blender to breakdown the apples and smooth out the texture.    

6.   Add sugar (optional), cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Stir.