If apple sauce tasted like this when I was growing up, I would have eaten a lot more of it! I had about a million left over apples and pears from one of my baking extravaganzas and when a girl has a million apples and pears, she makes apple pear sauce. Don’t just feed this to your kids although you will definitely be able to move them along at a faster pace by dangling this in front of their salivating little mouths. Slather it on pork or chicken, mix it in with stuffing, warm it a bit and put it on ice cream. For a quick dessert, take some leftover pie pastry, put the applesauce in with some sliced apples on top, dot with some brown sugar and butter, fold over the sides and poof, crostata to go! I like my applesauce chunky but if you are a pureed type of person, throw it into a blender or mash it with a potato masher when it is done cooking.
Recipe:
4 to 5 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Half Granny Smith apples and half Jonagold apples were used in this recipe)
3 ripe Bosc pears
Juice (about 2 teaspoons) and zest from 1 small lemon
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks.
If you want a more pureed sauce, mash with a potato masher.
Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated.
Lasts up to one year in the freezer.
