Recipe: Homemade Apple Sauce

Since apple picking a few weeks ago, I've been making a lot of apple based recipes.  I've always liked applesauce, and when my son was a baby it was one of the things I would make for him from scratch in the fall when local apples were cheap and plentiful.  This year it was great making applesauce from the apples my son was able to pick himself! 

Homemade applesauce

This recipe makes about 6-8 servings.  It can be doubled or tripled and frozen in freezer bags or single serving containers.  

Ingredients
6-7 medium apples, Macintosh or Spy
juice of half lemon
1 tbsp. brown sugar or honey (or more to taste)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup water or more as needed

Directions:

1- Peel and core apples.  Cut into chunks.
2- Place apples in a saucepan and squeeze lemon juice over top.  Stir to coat to prevent browning.
3- Add water, sugar and cinnamon.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to help break down apples. 
4- Continue to cook until apples are mushy and mixture has a sauce-like texture, adding more water if mixture becomes too thick and lowering temperature if bottom begins to burn.  Adjust seasonings.
5-  For a completely smooth sauce, blend with an immersion blender until smooth.