I have always loved applesauce. We would go apple picking every fall, packing a fried chicken picnic and then eat apple cider donuts until we got sick. My dad would somehow always manage to fall out of the apple tree. Later in the week, when we refused to eat another apple, we would make homemade apple sauce. Genie would pull out the “Apple Sauce Pot,” we would peel and core the fruit, and she would spike it with Red Hot candies for a cinnamon kick and pretty pink color. This one is a little lemony instead of cinnamony, but any apple sauce makes me happy and makes the house smell great as it bubbles away.
- 8 apples
- 4 pears
- 1 lemon – peeled and juiced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup water
- pinch of Kosher salt
- To peel or not to peel…totally up to you! I like to peel, because that is how we did it as kids. In the pictures, it is unpeeled, as my pears were over-ripe. I pushed it through a potato ricer at the end to catch the peels.
- Throw everything in a 4 quart pot, cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the fruit is soft, about 20 minutes, uncover and give it a stir. Lower the heat to low and let it simmer another 10 minutes.
- The applesauce is ready! You can mash it up with a potato masher, ricer, or food mill. Great warm or cold.
Because I like things extra, if you put a little warm applesauce in a dish and top with a big scoop of ice cream, you will be very happy. This is applesauce is a