Smooth apple sauce

Hi All!
Tonight we made apple sauce from scratch. After spending some time with the ponies yesterday we realized they were nearly out of horse food so we had to travel to the nearest Tractor Supply which is about 45 minutes from home. On our way home we stopped at a local U-pick place and picked up nearly 42 lbs of Honeycrisp apples. This has become a yearly trek for myself and sous chef Matt and I usually make a couple different batches of Applesauce for different purposes. The first batch is very low or no sugar and blended into a smooth puree. These jars are perfect for cooking with. I routinely substitute apple sauce for oil in baked goods and this makes the best apple sauce. It also works for pancakes, and anything else that you can use apple sauce for. The next batch is usually a chunky spiced apple sauce which I have been known to eat straight from the jar... The whole jar. Matt likes to put it on pancakes.

 Tonight's installment will be smooth low-sugar apple sauce.

Here are a few pictures from the pre-apple sauce part, aka apple picking. I had a picture of sous chef Matt tasting an apple, but it was really unflattering so I decided to just stick with apple pictures.

Little bitty apple trees! They were barely 6 feet tall, but FULL of apples

Look at those nice Honeycrisp apples! These seemed to grow in pairs, so picking was a two for.

But some of them were really big!

To keep the apples from browning while you're peeling, slicing and coring them, you put them in a "De-browning solution" made of lemon juice and water.

De-browning liquid ingredients:

3/4 c. Lemon Juice

 12 c. water

As you peel, core and slice the apples, toss them in this solution to keep them from browning

Apple Sauce Ingredients:

12 lbs of apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 c. sugar (up to 3 c. if you like sweeter apple sauce)

4 Tbs. Lemon Juice

We have a lovely peeler/corer and I highly recommend getting one if you're going to be doing this often because it takes a LOT of apples to make 12 lbs after coring and peeling (i.e. ~20 lbs whole=12 lbs peeled and cored).

This is all of the apples peeled, cored, and sliced ready to boil!

Combine apples with just enough water to prevent sticking. Boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 10-20 minutes until apples are tender. To test this I pull out an apple and try to break it in half  (after it cools, otherwise you burn your fingers. Not that I'd know that from personal experience...). If it crunches when you bend it it is not done, if it doesn't seem crispy anymore they are ready. Remove from heat and let cool for ~5 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer apples to a food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree until smooth.

3 lbs fit nicely into my food processor

Apples in the processor

Vroooommmmm! Blending away!

Nice and smooth! Ready to go.

 Return apple puree to saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juce; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Maintain a gentle boiling over low heat while filling jars.

Pouring from a greater height gives it a nice dramatic effect. It really wows your 4 legged captive audience in the kitchen

Stirring in the sugar and lemon juice

Pretend you can see the bubbles. It made big belching, plopping bubbles like the Degobah swamp in Starwars

 Ladle hot applesauce into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles by tamping the jars on the counter. WARNING: if you do it too hard you end up wearing hot apple sauce. This is really not a happy feeling, so try not to do this. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes.

Ok, confession time. I only had 10 lbs of apples and it made 10 jars of applesauce, so if you follow the recipe above you should get 12 pints of apple sauce.

This is so easy its not even funny. If you can make mashed potatoes, you can do this! Best yet, there are only 3 ingredients! This is as close to wholesome and perfect apples as you can get without having them fresh off the tree. The way I made it here is perfect for baking and with 10 jars, you should have enough for a bunch of cakes and breads, etc. It is also good for eating, but I prefer the chunky spiced variety for eating. That recipe will come later, promise!
Happy Eating and after this, Happy baking too!