Easy Homemade Apple Sauce: From Pie Filling to Breakfast Topping!

Apple sauce is a delicious way to use up lots of apples! If you love apple pie filling then you'll love apple sauce. This homemade apple sauce can be used on top of oatmeal, pancakes, with roast pork, as a snack or also as a replacement for oil and butter in muffins, cakes and baking. This handy ingredient is perfect for preserving right now that apples are in abundant.

Dear Reader, I have a confession to make: I cannot keep up with the demand for apple sauce in this house. Mr NQN is an absolute freak for it and he saw that I made made a big batch of this he asked me when he could eat the apple sauce. This man hates raw apples but he LOVES cooked apples. He has been making himself porridge every morning for breakfast and he adds an enormous spoonful (really a ladleful) of apple sauce. Luckily for him, we keep getting apples in our vege box.

Tips for Coring Apples

I picked up this tip from a chef and that is, if you don't have an apple corer, you can also use a melon baller! It's so easy and I find it easier than using an apple corer as I find myself often in battle when pulling the core from the apple. I once accidentally elbowed a friend while trying to use an apple corer in a cooking class! I'm traumatised I tell ya (they probably are too).

Apple sauce is so simple that I was even making it as a kid. Apples and oranges were the only two fruits we had growing up and my mother would eat the apples while my father would eat the oranges. My sister and I hated both of them but nobody cared what we thought (it's different now, people ask their kids what they want, maybe from not being asked when they were kids haha).

One day I wanted to make an apple pie because I had seen some kids eating apple pie on television. Having never made an apple pie (and I suspect knowing that pastry was out of my range and not having any in the freezer) my mother suggested that we make the crust out of wholemeal Lebanese bread. She also said that we didn't need to add any sugar to the apples. It seemed all too easy. I pulled out my "apple pie" out of the oven. I cut it, excitedly blowing on it because I knew that I couldn't wait to take a bite of my creation.

So imagine the understated horror when I tried the soggy, wholemeal bread and the bland, unsweetened and unspiced apples. I screwed up my face. This wasn't delicious in any way, shape or form. It took me decades to warm to wholemeal Lebanese bread too and I've never quite warmed up to apples or apple sauce. But luckily I have a fruit loving husband who adores the stuff and will eat it as quickly as I can make it!

So tell me Dear Reader, did you cook much as a kid? Do you like apple sauce? How do you use it?

Apple Sauce

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes 2x400g/14ozs jars of apple sauce

• 1kg/2.2lbs apples (I used Pink Lady apples)
• 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs water
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup or sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Step 1 - Peel and core apples and cut into small cubes. Place in a saucepan with the water and bring to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes stirring occasionally so that it doesn't catch. Add the maple syrup or sugar and cinnamon and simmer with the lid off for 5-10 minutes until a lot of moisture has evaporated and you get a spoonable but not wet consistency. Process in a food processor or Thermomix if you want a smooth apple sauce.

Notes: You can double or triple the recipe but cooking time will need to be adjusted for the greater volume of fruit. You can also add more maple syrup or sugar if you want your apple sauce sweeter. Or omit the sweetened and have unsweetened apple sauce which is handy for baking.

This can be canned if you use sterilising procedures. If you don't can, this can last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge (unopened). Once you open a jar it will last for 7-10 days (provided you use a clean spoon).