Holiday Applesauce

I was given a wonderful gift by one of my students recently: a bag of freshly-picked, home-grown organic apples! These little yellow apples we so tiny and sweet, I wanted to make a special winter treat. What a great gift, especially in light of the No-Shop Challenge!

Applesauce is delicious all year round, but the holiday twist in this recipe is the cinnamon and cranberry flavors. You could also try adding a few tablespoons of leftover cranberry sauce - yum!

This recipe's a Twenty-Something Home original - enjoy!

• 3 - 4 pounds of apples. Type generally doesn't matter.
• 1/4 cup sugar (less if your apples are sweet, more if your apples are tart or you like a very sweet applesauce)
• 1 T lemon or orange juice
• 2 T butter
• 2 cups cranberry juice (pre-sweetened, from concentrate -- or 1 cup pure juice with 1 cup water, plus more sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg and ground cloves
• optional - several tablespoons of leftover cranberry sauce 

1) Wash your apples. There's no need to peel them - many of the nutrients apples provide are stored in the peel!
2) Cut your apples into medium slices.
3) Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium heat. Stir every five minutes for 30 minutes or until apples are very soft and mushy.

4) Use an immersion blender (if you have one) to chop up peels. If you don't have an immersion blender, use a regular blender. 

Enjoy!