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Old-Fashioned Maple-Sweetened Spiced Applesauce

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Bowl of applesauce with sliced apples and peels and cinnamon sticks scattered around.

One of my favorite things to make each fall is a big batch of old-fashioned applesauce. This spiced applesauce recipe is one I love to make because it uses several traditional autumn spices and because it’s sweetened with just enough maple syrup to give a hint of maple flavor.

You can use any type of apples for making this applesauce, but in my opinion, it tastes even better when you use fresh-picked apples from an orchard or a local farm stand. There’s nothing quite like the flavor of apples picked right off the tree!

And just like with homemade, old-fashioned apple crisp, it also really improves the flavor of the applesauce if you use a few different types of apples, especially if you combine ones that have tart and sweet flavors. While making your own sauce from scratch will still taste a lot better than buying store bought applesauce, you can make it taste even more amazing if you are able to combine different varieties of apples for a more complex flavor.

I used a couple of different apple varieties when I made this recipe, including standard New England favorites like Mackintosh and Cortland as well as a few lesser-known heirloom varieties like Golden Russet, Cox’s Orange Pippin, and Wolf River.

I got my apples from Autumn Hills Orchard, a traditional New England orchard in Massachusetts on a hillside with a view that was absolutely beautiful! I really wish I had gotten a few pictures of the view so I could show you, but I was too busy picking apples to think about taking any pictures.

This applesauce is a perfect way to enjoy the bounty of the fall apple harvest, and if you make a double or triple batch, you can save some aside in the freezer to enjoy a taste of autumn all year long. (This recipe isn’t one that has been tested for canning safety, so I can’t recommend it for that, but it keeps very well in the freezer.)

Bowl of applesauce with sliced apples and peels and cinnamon sticks scattered around.
Bowl of applesauce with sliced apples and peels and cinnamon sticks scattered around.

Old-Fashioned Maple-Sweetened Spiced Applesauce

Yield: About 5 1/2 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

This old-fashioned applesauce recipe is sweetened with pure maple syrup and includes plenty of warming fall spices.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Peel, core, and chop the apples. The smaller the pieces you chop your apples into, the faster the apples will cook down into sauce, but if you like having more of a rustic applesauce with pieces of apple in the sauce, then you can chop the apples into larger pieces. (And if you want to make more than one batch of applesauce and save on time, you can use an apple peeler-corer-slicer to do all three jobs at once.)
  2. Put the chopped apples into a saucepan and add a splash or two of water (or apple cider) to the pan to help to keep the apples from sticking while they cook down.
  3. Cook the apples on medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and reducing the heat if the apples start to get too hot and splatter outside the pan.
  4. Add the maple syrup, pinch of salt, and the spices and stir well to combine.
  5. Continue cooking down the apples and stirring occasionally until the apples are soft and have turned into sauce with a few larger apples pieces. (Mine took about 25 minutes to finish cooking down.)
  6. Then, if you like a smooth apple sauce, you can use a potato masher to smooth out the lumps, or if you prefer a more rustic applesauce, you can leave them as they are.
  7. Remove from heat, let cool, and enjoy!
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Bowl of applesauce with sliced apples and peels and cinnamon sticks scattered around.
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The information in this post is not to be taken as medical advice and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.

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Bill Heinbach

Tuesday 3rd of October 2017

Just learned of this one, haven't tried it myself yet but person who gave it out really likes it.

Peel, core, slice 1 apple. Fry up 2 slices of bacon (or more), set aside. In the bacon grease, fry your apple slices, while they're cooking chop the cooked bacon then sprinkle the bacon over the frying apples to warm it up. Season with cinnamon to taste.

If you want you can fry a couple eggs at the same time for a full breakfast.

ourheritageofhealth

Wednesday 4th of October 2017

That sounds like it would make a pretty good breakfast!

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