Test Kitchen Tuesday

Yesterday, I mentioned I had an easy “no recipe” type recipe for today. It is so easy to make applesauce, and you can control how much sugar (or lack of sugar) goes into it!

Honestly, I don’t really like applesauce to eat straight up. But, I use it all the time in recipes, from pancakes to muffins and anything that calls for butter or oil. I have successfully subbed up to half of the butter or oil in baked goods with applesauce, which dramatically cuts the fat and calories.

Instead of keeping applesauce on hand, I usually just whip some up when I need it, then it doesn’t spoil before I can get to it! While I usually only make enough for the recipe – 1 medium apple yields about 1/2 cup applesauce – today I scaled it to give you four servings.

Ingredients:

Note: all of these items are “to your own taste” kinds of things. This is the ratio I use, though I never add sugar.

• 4 medium or 3 large apples – cored, peeled (if you please – you could leave the peels on, which I do), and chopped into large chunks. Fuji, Braeburn or Pink Lady are my faves for this. Granny Smith would not be good.
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Splash of lemon juice (juice from about 1/2 a lemon)
• Optional: Sugar to taste – no more than 1/4 cup granulated white/raw or 2 tablespoons brown

Method:

• Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and cover.
• Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until apples are soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed
• Carefully pour mixture into a high speed blender like a Ninja or food processor, and pulse to combine
• If you want smooth applesauce, blend to a smooth consistency
• If you want chunky applesauce, continue to pulse until you get the texture you prefer

If you don’t want to cook the apples over the stove, put all the ingredients into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes. and then blend.

By the way, warm applesauce is delicious over vanilla ice cream!

Nutrition:

1/2 cup serving without added sugar: