Simply Albany: Apple Adventures | Part 2: The Apple Sauce

Hello and Happy Wednesday!

I'm on my way to California for a few more pediatric residency interviews. I'm so looking forward to getting warm in the California sun, catching up with some old friends, and learning more about the fantastic pediatric programs!

This is the second post of three in my Apple Adventures trilogy. See Part 1 here.

I have never made apple sauce before, and for some reason, I assumed it was a difficult process. I was wrong. All it took was an apple peeler, a crock pot, some cinnamon & nutmeg, a tiny bit of brown sugar and water, and a whisk/blender.

Oh, and some patience as the apartment starts smelling like heaven.

It turns out, making apple sauce is sort of like making mashed potatoes. A med school friend said he just "cooked down the apples in minimal water then added brown sugar and a little bit of cinnamon to taste." I figured I could handle that.

In case you, too, would like to enjoy the thrill of making your own apple sauce, here's what I did:

Peel and core several apples (I used about 8)
Cut apples into chunks (they don't need to be tiny - maybe about 1-2 inch cubes or so)
Place apple chunks into a crock pot. Add about 1/3 cup water
Add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of nutmeg (Add more or less depending on your taste preferences)
Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar depending on the tartness of your apples and how sweet you like your apple sauce
Turn the crock pot on to high, cover with the lid. I suggest checking on it after about an hour to see if you need to add more water or if you want to mash up some of the apple chunks. Continue to let cook until you are satisfied with the softness of your apples.
Let cool and mash the apples with a fork or whisk. If you want really smooth apple sauce, you can put the cooled mixture into a blender and blend until smooth, which really only takes a couple of pulses. (Trust me, any more than a couple of pulses and you will end up with baby food. Which is perfectly acceptable if that's what you were going for.)

There really was no actual recipe that I used - it was mostly just taste-testing. I just tasted the sauce as I went and added some more cinnamon or nutmeg as needed. I also put a sprinkle of cinnamon on top right before I ate it.

Delicious.

That's one more item off our Bucket List!

During our Apple Picking Adventure, we ended up with quite a few apples, so I made apple sauce, apple pie, and pork tenderloin with apples. It turns out there are a ton of apple recipes. Do you have any amazing recipes to share?

Linking up at