Twenty years ago I bought two apple trees for my mom for Mother's Day. Today these trees are FULL of organic Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples. Thanksgiving weekend my kids (Simon and Olivia), my niece Eliana, my nephew Emerik, the neighbour's daughter Mia, and myself pick the apples. We had a bushel in no time. Last year I peeled the apples but my sister in-law Marielle told me her Grandma never peeled the apples so her applesauce was always PINK! I thought that I would try it out: One because I am lazy and will save time but two the apple peeling contains lots of the vitamins, minerals and fibre that make apples so nutritious and great. Sounds like the perfect combination for this Mom!
Ingredients:
Apples (any variety but it will impact the taste. Sweet apples like a Red Delicious will make it sweeter and tart apples like Granny Smith will make it tartier). It will also affect the colour too as my apple sauce didn't turn out PINK as I used more green Granny Smith apples.
Cinnamon (optional however it is good for you)
Brown sugar
Lemonade (optionally orange juice)
How To:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Cut apples into large chunks and remove cores with paring knife.
- Fill roasting pan until slightly heaped.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon over the entire pan (if you like apples and cinnamon, feel free to put a little extra).
- Depending on the size of your roasting pan and type of apples used sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar on top. I used 3 as my roasting pan is really big and held 1/2 bushel of apples.
- Pour lemonade or orange juice over apples. The amount of juice varies depending on the size and shape of your pan. I probably used 3-4 cups. You want to make sure the entire bottom of the pan is covered with juice to prevent the apples from sticking and burning.
- Put cover on roasting pan and roast in oven for 3 hours
Your house should be smelling amazing near the end of the 3 hours! No match to the apple cinnamon candle manufactures.
- Remove from oven. Check apples with fork. They should be tender, if still hard put back in oven for another 15-30 minutes.
- Use your hand immersion blender to break apple chunks. Be careful apples are VERY hot. If you like chunky apple sauce, don't blend as much.
Now what you do with all this apple sauce is entirely up to you! Eat it all right away, or put it in jars for use at a later date. I have a gigantic upright freezer, so I put it in jars and put in the freezer so we have homemade organic roasted applesauce all winter. You could keep it in sterilized jars but I am not an expert and I had the space in our freezer. The kids love it! My 7 year old son, Simon gobbled it up!