Healthy Apple Sauce Recipes

Making applesauce is surprisingly easy, although it can be quite time consuming. However, the rewards are endless, you can use your apple puree as a delicious pudding by itself, or as an ingredient for other delicious desserts.

You can get your apples from anywhere, your local supermarket perhaps but your nearest farmer's market is probably the best and most eco-friendly idea. Or, try searching for an obliging tree in your nearby countryside - you never know what you might discover!

This recipe has no specific weights or measures, but it is important to follow the instructions on how to make it correctly.

♥ Natural Homemade Apple Sauce Recipe

- Start by peeling and coring your apples, any type is good, granny smith's, fuji or royal gala are general favorites. But you can use just ordinary cooking apples if you like, as the way in which you cook them means that the sweetness is enhanced.

- Then chop up the apples into about 1cmx1cm cubes, though this need not be precise. The beauty of homemade applesauce is that its texture is not completely smooth, which makes it brilliant for a dessert.

- Pop the apple pieces into a large pan, and cover with just enough water so that most of the pieces are submerged. Bring to a boil.

- Once you have boiling water, turn the heat down to a very low simmer, and keep the lid of the pan off. Leave this for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very mushy.

- Get a fork or a potato masher, and start to mush the apples. They should squish easily, if not, pop the apple mix back on the heat until ready.

- Once you have mashed everything up, so the texture is even, leave to cool for a while.

- Prepare appropriately sized pint jars by putting them in a hot oven to kill off any bacteria. Then ladle the apple mix into the jars.

- To create a slightly different flavour, try adding a cinnamon stick into the water at the beginning of the process. Or add brown sugar, lemon juice or lemon peel after mashing, and then continue to heat. Or pop a teaspoon nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon into the mix before transferring into the jars.

- This applesauce is delicious served hot with vanilla ice cream, or on top of porridge every morning for a little bit of a health boost.

If you are looking for some delicious baby food recipes check out our page for some tasty ideas.

By making your own apple sauce, you can be sure that there are no preservatives or added sugar, which is often the case with store bought puree. It's also much cheaper, as you can use apples in season, as well as 3rd grade or windfalls, to make enough applesauce to last the rest of the year.

To store it well, you can can or bottle it with a little honey and lemon to help preserve, or you can blend it in a food processor or with a stick blender, and place it in your deep freeze - you could even pop it in ice cube trays, to add to gravy or in recipes that require small portions.

For more applesauce recipes and to find out how you can use your homemade puree to sweeten cakes and desserts, see:

• Plum Applesauce by Genki Kitty
• Crockpot Apple Sauce Recipe by Simply Sugar and Gluten Free
• Cranberry Bread with Applesauce from Gluten Free Goddess