Easy Applesauce

In our quest for snack materials to keep James fed between meals, apples are a great pick. You can eat them as they are, spread peanut butter on them, put them in pancakes or muffins, or make apple chips! James especially likes applesauce, and since apples are in season now, we picked a few pounds for the purpose.

We adapted this recipe for making applesauce in the crockpot. It's super easy and low maintenance. I recommend doubling the recipe, since the apples cook down to less than half the original volume. That does mean more time spent cutting up the apples, but the cooking time changes very little. 

We've given the amount of sugar and the cooking time as a range. We used Mantet apples, which are sweet and soft. You may want to add more sugar if you use a tart variety, or if you simply prefer a sweeter applesauce. A crisp variety may need a longer cooking time. 

We didn't peel our apples, since the skin adds fiber. If you use red apples, the skins will dye your applesauce to a rosy color. If you want light-colored applesauce, peel your apples or stick to green/golden varieties. 

Ingredients

6 cups finely chopped apples
¼ cup water
¼ to ½ cup sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Place water, apples, and ¼ cup sugar in a slow cooker. Stir together. Cook until apples are soft, about 2-3 hours on high (or 4-6 hours on low). If cooking on high, stir once each hour. When apples are soft, beat with a whisk to desired consistency (the volume will decrease considerably as you do this). Add the cinnamon. Taste the applesauce and add more sugar if desired. If you add more sugar, cook for another 30 minutes on low to be sure it dissolves in. Makes about 2 ½ cups of applesauce.

Optional: add 1 Tbsp lemon juice to prevent oxidation (this will help keep the applesauce from turning brown).