Holiday Applesauce

Submitted by rpgaymer

"I made this for the holidays, and it was truly the best applesauce I've ever had. The apartment smelled incredible while it was cooking! I used a mixture of Gala and Fuji apples, although any apples should be fine. Courtesy of Saveur.com."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 5mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 2 1/2 quarts
• Serves: 8-12

ingredients

• 5 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
• 1 lemon, juice & zest of
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3⁄4 cup apple cider or 3/4 cup apple juice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

directions

1. Bring all ingredients except the vanilla extract to a boil in a 6-qt. saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the apples start to break down.
2. Uncover and cook for a further 1-1 1/2 hours, or until the mixture has reduced by about a third and the sauce becomes thick and amber-colored.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Serve warm or cool.

Reviews

[Hill Family]

I really liked the flavor the vanilla bean added to this dish but I felt there was a bit too much of another flavor - possibly the nutmeg. From adding nutmeg to it and then the nutmeg in the all spice.

 

[loof751]

Wow this is a delicious applesauce! For me the addition of the vanilla really gave it that something special. I scaled the recipe to 1 lb of apples (used Granny Smith) and did not peel them for a more rustic texture. Loved this - thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[kunichris]

5 lbs apples after pared and peeled? I used a 5 lb bag and it was pretty spicy. Mostly the peppery allspice. Added more apples, adjusted, adding a bit more cinnamon and sugar (my transparent apples were very tart). Very good

 

[Annacia]

Truly a 5 star recipe, this is simply delicious. Not difficult to make and sure a lot better than store bought. I made a half recipe using Ambrosia apples. In turn I used this to make Recipe #272232 using the spice in the applesauce for that ask for in the muffins . All sugar was replaced with Splenda. I should add that I left the spice at the original amount even though I just made half the recipe.