As much as summer farmer’s markets are an embarrassment of culinary riches, I don’t really enjoy cooking as much during the warmer months. I think it’s a combination of not wanting to be confined to my kitchen when I could be doing a million other things outside, plus the discomfort of standing in front of a hot stove when it’s 90 degrees and humid. No thanks.
What a relief that the fall equinox is (finally) here this week! The temperatures have dropped to the low 70’s where I live in New Jersey, and all of a sudden, my desire to be in the kitchen has returned, full-force (now that I think about it, the new fall Williams Sonoma catalog with Stanley Tucci on the cover probably has something to do with it). Fall ingredients are my favorite, so I’ve been diving into more cooking and baking projects than I have in many months, which feels comforting and familiar, especially in the midst of some hard personal things I’ve been dealing with. It’s a great productive distraction and feels very grounding during this season of my life.
Last weekend, we visited an apple farm and picked a big bag’s worth of Cortland apples. My kids requested homemade applesauce, so I got out their kid-safe knives and crinkle cutter and put them to work helping me chop everything up (I peeled and cored the apples first; these are my favorite peelers of all time). We added everything to our (very basic) slow-cooker and a few hours later, voila! You’ll have homemade applesauce that will ruin you for all other applesauces. Using only a small handful of ingredients and no added sugar, it’s naturally sweet and slightly tangy, and is very much reminiscent of perfect apple pie filling. Everything comes together so quickly, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to make such delicious applesauce at home.
You can use any type of apple for this recipe; I used Cortland, which makes for a wonderfully balanced sweet-tart sauce. If you prefer more sweet, less tart, I’d recommend sticking to Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Gala or Fuji varieties. My recipe calls for 3 pounds of apples, which is approximately 6 medium sized apples.
You can easily double the recipe if you have a bunch of applesauce lovers in the family! The recipe, as written, will provide 6 average sized servings, but it’ll go quick once everyone sees how much better it is than the store-bought varieties.
Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce
Recipe by Lauren Kretzer
Serves 6 (makes approximately 3 cups)
Ingredients:
3 pounds apples, peeled, cored and chopped into roughly 1 ½” chunks (any variety; I used Cortland)
½ cup water
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
Instructions:
Place apple chunks, water, apple cider vinegar, cinnamon stick, vanilla extract and salt in a 6-quart slow cooker. Stir gently to combine.
Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on high for 4 hours, stirring every 30-40 minutes.
Remove cinnamon stick and gently stir cooked applesauce. Let cool completely before transferring to a lidded storage container. Applesauce will keep, refrigerated, for a week.