The Best of the ‘Net

I spent last weekend making applesauce from the apples we had picked in nearby Julian, CA so apples have been on my mind for the last week or so.

If I had apples left over, I was going to try this Apple Pie recipe from Kitchen Counter Economics. I didn’t, though. All the apples went into the applesauce, which turned out great! I ended up combining several recipes, so here’s what I used:

Ingredients:
Enough apples to fill a large crockpot
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup water
1 Tsp lemon juice

Peel, core and slice apples thinly. We found a peeler/corer/slicer at Target. (Funny story – we thought it was just a peeler, which was all it was advertised as on the outside. So excited to find out it did all three!)

Add all the prepared apples and other ingredients into the crockpot and cook on low 8-10 hours. I stirred occasionally – you’ll know when the apples start to soften, get really mushy and break down. I think I used the Low for 10 Hours setting on my crockpot, and it took about 8 hours.

Process the applesauce through a food mill or chinois (we have the Norpro Stainless Steel Chinois with Stand and Pestle Set and it works great – affiliate link) to remove any bits of core, seeds or peel that may not have been completely removed. To use, take the inner part (the stand wouldn’t fit over any of my bowls) and place inside a bowl, scoop about a cup or so of applesauce into it, then use the pestle in a circular motion to press the applesauce through the mesh. You can process several scoops of applesauce before you’ll need to pour the stuff remaining into the trash or compost bag.

Applesauce should keep in the refrigerator for 3 weeks or so. Otherwise you can can or freeze it to keep it longer.

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