Homemade Chunky Applesauce

 

The great thing about recipes is you can play around with them a lot.  I found, as I got older, that my taste buds were changing and that my baked apples were suddenly something that tasted SO spicy to me that I couldn't eat them anymore.  So I took an applesauce recipe from the McCormick's website and played with it a little and found a wonderful way to eat cooked apples that I could enjoy!  And it's VERY easy!

Ingredients:

3 pounds of apples (I use a pound each of Granny Smith, Gala and Honeycrisp) peeled, cored and sliced 

1 cup apple cider

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a large pan.  Cook on medium high heat 20-25 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally.

As far as I'm concerned these apples are done.  We use them in oatmeal, muffins, eat it straight out of a bowl.  But if you want it to be a little less chunky then spoon apples into food processor or blender container.  Puree until desired consistency and pour into medium bowl, cover and refridgerate.   

These are great warm or cold and if you plan to use them in other things and eat straight, just double the recipe and use a bigger pot.  It will look like a lot of apples when you start, but they cook way down.