Slow Cooker Applesauce

I am not sure why I haven’t tried to make homemade applesauce at home. Bob has a few stories of how his family and neighbors would make homemade applesauce to can with their neighbors over a span of several days. They used to go to the orchards to pick their apples and then make a procession line with each person assigned a chore as part of the process.

While I love applesauce, I can’t see myself canning lots of jars and now that I know how easy slow cooker applesauce is… no need for me to can!

Right now most apples are a fabulous price at the stores and I bought LOTS of Red Delicious and Granny Smith Apples for $.25 per pound. So for less than $.50 I have more than a store bought jar and it’s much healthier! I love it when produce is cheap cheap cheap because I can experiment with recipes without feeling like I am wasting a lot of money if the recipe fails.

Most recipes call for water or apple cider in them and I didn’t use either. I let the natural water of the apples seep out during the slow cooking process which will be used at the end when I puree with my hand held immersion blender.

I made a few variations before I came up with a taste that both kids enjoyed. My first version had too much cinnamon and not sweet enough. After testing the various mixtures, below is the winner.

BONUS: Once I removed the cinnamon sticks, I tossed them into a pot with water and my leftover apple peels to make the house smell amazing.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

Slow Cooker Applesauce

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Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Inactive Time 8 hours 15 minutes

Total Time 8 hours 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 apples (I used 4 red delicious and 4 Granny Smith)
• 1/2 juice of lemon
• lemon zest, 1/2 lemon
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

Instructions

1. Peel and core apples
2. Add to slow cooker
3. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon sticks and brown sugar over the apples
4. Stir the mixture
5. Cook on low for approximately 5 hours
6. Remove cinnamon sticks
7. Blend with immersion blender or potato masher (for chunkier consistency)