How To Make Applesauce

There are tart apples, and sweet apples, and dry apples, and dozens of flavors to choose from. But when you buy pre-made applesauce, odds are the ingredients just list “apples”. And of course high fructose corn syrup … because simply using sweeter apples is apparently too hard.

So if you’re trying to avoid HFCS — and you probably should — or if you just don’t like the flavors of applesauce available in the grocery store, you could always make your own. It’s really easy, and you get to choose the apples you like best.

Ingredients

6 medium apples (about baseball-sized)
1 cup raw sugar (white is fine)
cinnamon to taste

Directions

Peel the apples.

Those are Cortland, by the way.

Cut out the core.

By the way, that link above for peeling the apples shows a different way to get the core out. That method wastes slightly less of the fruit, but the method shown here is faster, and you won’t accidentally get seeds everywhere.

Dice the apple pieces into small cubes, about a half-inch or less.

Put in a large pot, with just enough water to almost cover the first layer of apple pieces.

Add the sugar and stir to coat everything.

Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are dark golden brown and all the water is cooked off.

At this point, you could stop and use this as a topping for ice cream, or just throw it in a bowl with some whipped cream on top.

Or, take a potato masher and lightly crush everything.

And that’s it.

Oh … you noticed I never added cinnamon. We actually prefer our applesauce without it. If you want to add some, start with about a teaspoon after cooking, but before mashing. Adjust to your preference.