McIntosh, Macouns, and Cortlands, Oh my!
Do you love Apple Picking? I LOVE apple picking, which is actually surprising since I broke my wrist climbing an apple tree in 5th grade. Even still, I have never tired of the experience of wandering through a picturesque apple orchard on a cool autumn day, sampling a flight of different colored apples, and then stopping by the farm shop to pick up some super delicious apple cider donuts on the way out. The warmth of those sugar-covered delights! Fall in one bit.
When you have kids, the experience does change a bit, though. Chiefly, it becomes more expensive because usually each kid wants their own bag. And then all of a sudden you are home with an entire winter’s supply of apples taking up room in your refrigerator.
I have had trouble, on occasion, eating my way through multiple bags of apples. So, while I enjoy many a snacking apple, I also like to use the apples to make apple crisp, apple tarts, and occasionally an apple pie. This year I decided we would try apple sauce, which is insanely easy.
I used about 3 lbs of apples for this recipe (about 5 or 6 apples) and still have lots left over for other recipes, or to just eat. The thing that took the longest was simply peeling each one and chopping them up. I don’t like brown apples, so I made sure I had on hand a bowl of water with some lemon juice to dunk the apple pieces in until I was ready to steam them.
I placed my apples in the perforated steam bin. I set the Combi oven to Steam at 212 degrees for 8 minutes, and waited for it to preheat before placing the bin inside. You could also steam the apples on the stove top, too. Just make sure they are really tender before trying to blend them.
After the 8 minutes is up, remove the bin and place the apples in a bowl. I used an immersion blender, but I think a food processor would work just fine here, as well. To the mashed up apples, I added ½ cup of cider (also purchased at the Orchard,) a ½ cup of lemon juice from about one lemon, 2 tsp of maple syrup, and ½tsp of cinnamon. My kids added more cinnamon later, but I like it with a little less, so this way we all got what we wanted.
Recipe for a super simple apple sauce in a Combi Steam Oven.
Just a note about the sugar content here: Plenty of recipes call for brown sugar, but I had just picked my apples at the prime peak of apple season when they are the ripest and sweetest so I didn’t add any extra sugar beyond the syrup which I like for flavoring, too. Honestly, the kids love the applesauce as it without any extra sugar, so I feel like I won something. You feel like you should get an award for Mom-of-the-Year when you make this stuff from scratch, and it literally only takes about 20 minutes.
I ended up putting my apple sauce in mason jars at the end, and they were so hot that I heard them snap shut. I didn’t bother to truly “can” these because I knew they wouldn’t last very long. And I was right.
Easy Peasy Apple Sauce Recipe
3lbs Apples (any type)
1/2 cup of Apple Cider
1/2 Lemon juiced
2 tsp Maple syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Peel, core, and cut up 3lbs of apples. Place the apples in a bowl of water mixed with a bit of lemon juice until ready to steam.
Set the Combi oven to Steam at 212 degrees for 8 minutes. Place apples in a bin and wait for the oven to preheat before placing the apples in the oven.
Use an immersion blender to blend the hot apples. Add the cider, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cinnamon and continue blending until uniformly smooth.
Store in ball jars or any container and refrigerate.