Sweet And Spiced Applesauce Recipe

Sweet, warm, spiced, and everything nice — well, this delicious homemade applesauce is at least! Recipe developer and wellness coach Miriam Hahn has graced us with this sweet and spiced applesauce, and we can't get enough of this delicious homemade stuff. "My favorite thing about this recipe is how much better this applesauce tastes over store-bought," she explains. "There is no comparison!" Yes, you can buy applesauce from a jar, but this recipe will yield the freshest applesauce possible, and what could be better than that?

Of course, you could argue that many foods are better homemade than store-bought, so what makes this applesauce so special? "It is fresh-tasting with great sweet and spicy flavors," Hahn describes. Not only that, but she loves how customizable it is. You can keep it chunky with plenty of apple pieces throughout, or you can use an immersion blender and make things nice and smooth. "Plus it makes your house smell amazing when you are making it," Hahn adds. If you're someone who finds joy in all things autumnal, then this recipe is the perfect thing to keep you in that mindset all year long.

Unsurprisingly, the main ingredient that you will need here is apples, and Hahn uses an equzl amount of Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples. "You can play around with different types of apples and combinations. You really can't go wrong," she explains. She does stress the importance of using organic apples, "as [non-organic apples] are a produce item that is typically sprayed quite heavily with pesticides." 

Other than the apples, you'll also need some good old water, fresh orange juice, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice. Speaking of that pumpkin pie spice, it happens to be what Hahn considers the magic ingredient in this recipe: "It takes this applesauce up a notch and gives it a true fall taste," she says. "Plus, anytime I can use a quick blend of spices, I do for the time-saving aspect." That said, if you don't have actual pumpkin pie spice on hand, Hahn notes that you can add nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger to compensate for those flavors. 

Start off by washing the apples, then trim ¼ inch off both the top and bottom. This makes the apples easier to peel — which, by the way, you should do at this point. Once you have peeled apples, place one on your cutting board upright, and make four equal cuts around the core. With each cut, you want to do it as close to the core as possible, yielding as much apple flesh as you can. Once you've made all of these cuts on each of the apples, cut each quarter piece into small chunks — in total, you want about 10 cups of fresh apples. 

Place a medium-sized pot onto your stovetop and add the chopped apples, water, freshly squeezed orange juice, maple syrup, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla. Stir it all up, then turn the heat to medium-high, allowing the ingredients to come to a boil. At that point, lower the heat to medium and allow the apples to cook for 20 minutes, until they're fork tender. Remove them from the heat once they reach this tenderness.

Now, you have two options: either mash the apples down with a potato masher or muddler if you want chunky applesauce, or use an immersion blender to create a perfectly smooth applesauce. The flavors are there no matter what, so you really can't go wrong either way. 

Once you've mashed or blended the applesauce, you're ready to serve and enjoy. While you could serve the applesauce with an extra sprinkle of cinnamon, Hahn has a few other suggestions. "To jazz this up as a dessert, you can top this applesauce with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream," she says. "Adding chopped walnuts or pecans is really nice also or crushed graham crackers." 

If you're feeling adventurous enough, you could even make apple pie with this applesauce! "I use a frozen pie crust, fill it with the applesauce and follow the bake time on the pie crust," Hahn advises. She notes that you could even use a muffin tin to make mini apple pies — the possibilities truly are endless here!