Homemade Applesauce!

Tummy's never cared for applesauce much but Mr. Borscht loves it and I just happened to run across a rather simple recipe for it in one of my favorite cookbooks: The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, so as always, the adventurous Tummy decided to try it.

First of all, if it was any other cookbook with an applesauce recipe I probably may have skipped it, but so far most everything I've tried in this particular cookbook has turned out great, with a little tweaking here and there to meet my specific needs that is.

This recipe is really as simple as 1-2-3.  Peel, core and quarter the apples which goes into a large over-proof pot along with zest and juices of oranges and a lemon, cinnamon, allspice and some brown sugar.

One thing I've learned about Barefoot Contessa from this cookbook is that a lot of recipes that contain sugar tend to be sweeter than I like, so I adjust by 1/2 the amount accordingly, I did so with this recipe as well and it came out perfectly.

I added a couple of red apple peels as suggested to give the sauce a pretty pinkish hue, perhaps I didn't put enough red peels in to cook with the apples because the applesauce was still an unattractive brown, but that's okay.

You pop it into the oven for 1.5 hours, I only made half the amount just incase I didn't like the recipe, I didn't want to have jars and jars of applesauce I didn't like, if you're making 1/2 the amount still put the apples in to bake for 1.5 hours.  And once you take it out vewy vewy carefullly with oven mitts and all, whisk away- it's that easy!  And Wah-La!  Homemade applesauce!!!

I know it doesn't look very pretty but trust me it tastes great- and I don't even like applesauce.  Today for breakfast I got buttered toast and smeared some applesauce on it- absolutely DELISH!  I've converted myself into an applesauce loving gal!

Applesauce recipe instructions are below.

I like to collect jars believing that one fine day they'll come in handy, and they have- just look below, now my applesauce are beautifully jarred :)

Ina Garden's homemade applesauce from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook:

What you'll need:

Zest & juice of 2 lg navel oranges

Zest & juice of 1 lemon

3lbs Granny Smith Apples

3lbs Sweet red apples

1/2c light brown sugar, packed

1/4lb unsalted butter

2tsp ground cinnamon

1/2tsp ground allspice

What you'll need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Put zest and juice of the oranges and the lemon into a lg bowl

Peel, core & quarter apples place them in the same bowl and toss

Pour the mixture into a dutch oven or enameled iron pot

Add the rest of the ingredients & toss

NOTE: add a couple of peels from the red apples to color the applesauce

Cover and bake in the oven for 1.5hrs

Take out from the oven when ready and whisk for a smooth consistency