Cowgirl Applesauce

I love making things from scratch. There is something about the raw ingredients and the smell of things cooking and baking in the kitchen that make me smile.

Every year we go to Apple Hill in El Dorado County, California. It is so much fun to visit various apple farms and get boxes and boxes of a variety of apples. This year we purchased our apples, came home and ran out of time to can applesauce. With the help of my parents, we peeled, cored and sliced the apples and froze them to use at a later date.

Today I pulled a bag out of the freezer and threw them into a pan. We are having stuffed pork chops for dinner and applesauce will be the perfect pairing.

Here is how I make my apple sauce:

• Start with peeled, cored and sliced apples (can be fresh or frozen). Throw them in a saucepan on medium heat.
• Then get out your brown sugar, white sugar, honey and cinnamon.
• Once the apples start to breakdown, add equal amounts brown and white sugar. I usually just grab a small handful of each and throw it in. Then I add some honey to the apples. I don’t like super sweet apple sauce so I start small, mix it in, taste it and then add more if needed.
• Then add your cinnamon, just like the sugars add as much as you want. I tend to go light on the cinnamon and then add a bit after I serve it.
• Now turn it down to a simmer, cover it and let it cook down. If you like you applesauce smooth, cook it down until it is completely mushy.If you like chunkier applesauce don’t cook it so long.
• Let it cool a bit, put it in a container and you have applesauce made with just the good stuff!