As the summer winds down (sigh) and we head into fall (swoon), apples {and all of the delightful things that can be made from apples} come to mind. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade applesauce that our family has come to really enjoy. It is a nice mix of sweet and tart and I like to leave it a little chunky; of course, the beauty of any recipe, is that you can alter the taste and texture to best suit your family's preferences. When still warm, it would be great served over vanilla ice cream. In fact, I made a batch earlier this week and upon the first 'taste-testing bite', was instantly reminded of the years I went mall-walking with family as a youngster (do people still do that?); there was a place called Freshens that served a few flavors of frozen yogurt with (what seemed like at the time) a zillion different toppings to put on it. It was probably more like 20 options and I always thought the warm apple-cinnamon topping was pretty much fantastic. If you give it a try, I hope you will enjoy!Ingredients
- ~12 of your favorite apples (we use honey crisp, with a few granny smith mixed in)
- juice from half a lemon
- 2 TBSP butter
- 1 TBSP cinnamon
- 1 TBSP honey (could also use maple syrup)
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 c water
Directions
- Wash, peel, core, and quarter all of the apples. If you don't mind the skin, leave the skin from a few of the apples on. Place the apples and all other ingredients in the stainless steel insert of the Instant Pot.
- Put on the lid and lock into place, making sure the vent is in the sealed position.
- Use the manual pressure cook setting on 'high/more' for 3 minutes.
- Once done, stir to reach the desired texture; cool and refrigerate.
Note: if using a slow-cooker in place of an Instant Pot, prep apples as described above, add to the crock pot with the other ingredients and cook for ~4 hours, or until desired consistency is reached.
Below are the before and after photos. The yield is around 3 quarts of finished apple sauce.
