Homemade Applesauce

My sister in law in all her awesomeness, brought me a box of apples from her neighbours yard this week. These apples are seriously delicious! They are soft enough that the girls will just grab one and eat them with the skins on them and everything, but not too soft!  As much as we all devour them daily, we simply had too may to finish before they would go bad, so I decided to make some applesauce with them.

Applesauce has got to be one of the easiest things to can! I have never done it before, but I chopped, boiled, and canned a whole box within an hour and a half using the tutorial on Food Arsenal. I left the skins on for more flavour, (and to be honest, save time), and it turned out great. If you like a smoother applesauce you can peel the apples before boiling them, but you might not even need to if your blender is good enough. 

Here's how you do it. Grab a big ol' box of apples

(Organic is best if leaving the skins on.)

. 

Wash, peel if desired, and core the apples. Chop into halves or quarters. 

(I used my apple slicer to make things go even faster.) 

Throw them in the biggest pot you have. Add 1 inch of water to the bottom. Simmer the apples for 20-30 mins. As the water steams the apples, the juices will come out and the pot will keep filling up, softening the rest of them. This is a good time to get your jars and lids sterilized. 

After 20 mins, use a potato masher to mash the apples. If they are too hard still, cook them a little longer. 

Once they have reached your desired softness, place in a blender and puree them. Because I plan on using this applesauce to bake with, I didn't add any sugar or cinnamon, but if you want you can do that (to taste). My youngest had a big bowl of it and it was plenty sweet enough in her opinion. 

 Again, my blender isn't the best so you can see in this picture that it isn't the smoothest texture (because of the skins), but we don't mind that around here. If I were using this to feed a baby, then I would probably peel the apples. 

Then spoon into jars with 3/4 inch head space. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. 

I am so excited to use this in my baking during the cold winter months!