Saucy Apples

Since making mud pies last weekend, my little girl has been asking if we can make real pies; “like blueberry,” she says while jumping up and down. So today, I asked her if we could make apple pie with some of the apples we picked.

Me: “Do you think we should make an apple pie today?”

Her: “Yeah. Hey mom, can we make apple sauce this day too?!”

Me: “Sure. Did you know that sometimes we eat ice cream on apple pie?”

Her: *Wide eyed* “Mom, can we make apple sauce first and eat it at the same time as pie?”

I interpreted that last bit to, “Mom, can we eat ice cream on our apple sauce?” I’m pretty sure that’s the picture in her head.

Have you ever tried to duplicate something you ate at a restaurant? I do it all the time with varying degrees of success. There was a diner near where we used to live that served homemade apple sauce as a side. Really, it was like apple pie filling but it was sooooo good! Tender chunks of apples bathing in warm, caramel-like cinnamon sauce… Mmmmm

So that’s the apple sauce I was dreaming about while my little girl was dreaming about ice cream in hers and honestly, combining the two would probably make a fabulous dessert!

The variety of apples we picked last weekend is called “Sweet 16” and they are indeed very sweet. They have been great for sweetening vegetable juice and the kids have been dipping them in peanut butter to snack on all week. I think they are the perfect amount of sweet for apple sauce too!

Cinnamon Apple Sauce

4 medium sweet apples, peeled and cubed

¼ cup water

1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

½ tsp (heaping) ground cinnamon

Combine ingredients in medium pan. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 5-7 minutes then remove cover. Continue to cook until apples are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Leave apple sauce chunky or use a potato masher for apple sauce consistency.