Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Which Apples To Choose
- Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Macintosh, and Pink Lady are among the best. Feel free to use different varieties for your apple sauce.
Apple Sauce
- Wash the apples. Cut each apple into quarters and remove the core and stem. Slice each quarter in half lengthwise. Place the apple pieces in a large, shallow baking dish. Add water and sugar. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil or a baking tray. Bake at 330°F (160°C) for 1 hour, or until the apples are very soft. While still hot, carefully pass the cooked apples through a food mill or ricer into a clean bowl to create a smooth puree, discarding the skins. Return the apple puree to the shallow dish. Stir in the vanilla bean and seeds or extract. Bake the sauce, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Stir with a spatula halfway through. Turn off the oven. Leave the dish inside with the door closed for a few hours, or preferably overnight. This allows moisture to evaporate, firming the texture and concentrating the flavor. Once cooled, taste and add more sugar if desired. From 2.5kg of raw apples, you will yield approximately 1.75kg (1750g) of applesauce.
Apple Quince Sauce
- The addition of quinces is a great idea. It brings a touch of sophistication to the sauce and sets it apart from traditional applesauce recipes. Quinces are naturally very high in pectin and incredibly fragrant. Another secret to this exceptional sauce is leaving the fruits unpeeled during cooking.
- Prepare apples as suggested above.
- Do likewise with quinces.
- Place the apple and quince pieces in a large pot. Add the apple juice. Cover the pot with a lid and let them simmer for about 25 minutes, until the fruits are soft and cooked through.
- Pass the cooked fruit through a food mill to remove the skins, seeds, and any solids. Return the puree to the pot. Stir in the brown sugar and your chosen flavorings, such as cinnamon or vanilla.
- Allow the compote to simmer on medium heat for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. This gentle cooking process helps to thicken the compote and allows excess moisture to evaporate, concentrating the flavors. Leave apple sauce on the stovetop overnight (it will thicken up even more). To smooth out your apple sauce even further, mix it with an immersion blender.
What should you eat with apple sauce?
- Needless to mention that apple sauce is an excellent dessert for toddlers. Apple sauce makes great snacks, and paired with yogurt or ricotta cheese. It also makes excellent filling for apple pies or apple cake or toppings for waffles, pancakes or French toast. On the savory side, apple sauce goes best with pork roast.
Storage
- It'll stay good for up to six days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. You also can freeze apple sauce for weeks for latter use.
