With an abundance of fresh organic apples available here every fall, making our own applesauce is just a natural occurrence. Oh, and it’s very easy too. You can use a crock-pot or dutch oven on the stove, both methods work great. You can peel your apples but we don’t. The apples we use are organic, so after a good wash, we feel leaving the skin on keeps more nutrients and of course don’t forget the fibre.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes Dutch Oven, 6 hrs Crock Pot
Total Time: 15 minutes D.O., 6 hrs 10 minutes Crock Pot
Servings: 6 – 500mL jars

INGREDIENTS|
10 to 12 medium to large Apples – use a variety, see note in instructions
2 Cinnamon Sticks
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar (optional)
2 cups Water (if using Dutch-oven)

DIRECTIONS
You can use any apples you like. We’ve used Fuji, Gala, Ambrosia, Honey Crisp and others. Some apples are sweeter, some are more tart. The type you choose will dictate the natural sweetness of your sauce. We tend to use sweeter types as the applesauce helps to replace sugar as well as some of the fats in our recipes.
Wash all apples and pat dry. Core apples and quarter. Cut quarters in half again. Don’t be too fussy cutting them up into chunks. Place in Dutch Oven or Crock Pot.
Add cinnamon, lemon juice and sugar if using. Give it a quick stir.
Add ingredients as above. Place lid on Crock Pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
Once apples are soft and mushy, they are ready. Turn off Crock Pot and remove crock from unit. Remove cinnamon stick. With a multi-quick hand blender, blend up apples until a smooth consistency. Cool.
Add ingredients as above plus water. Simmer 1o to 15 minutes or until fruit is very soft and mushy. Keep an eye on it to prevent scorching. When apples are ready, remove from heat. Remove cinnamon stick. With a multi-quick hand blender, blend up allies until a smooth consistency. Cool.
We like to freeze in small canning jars in 1 cup and 1 1/2 cup sizes ready to take out and use for our recipes.