Crock Pot Applesauce

I know I already started with the Christmas stuff, but yesterday was WAY too cold here in Pennsylvania, so I'm taking it back to fall!

I love apples year round, but in the fall I love the colors, the crisp sound and taste when you bite into an apple and I especially love homemade applesauce. 

I had a friend who's mom used to make it from scratch. It was so delicious and I'm sure to her it was worth the hours it took to peel, core, steam, stir, flavor, press and can. I don't have time for that! This is where the crock pot comes in.

I start with an 8 lb bag of apples. I peel and core all of the apples. Here is my tip for peeling apples: You heard of the Rachael Ray "trash bowl" right? Well, I take that to another level. Loved the idea, hated washing another bowl. I place the bag that the apples {or any produce that I am peeling} came in inside the bowl. This way, all of the mess ends up in the bag, you were throwing away the bag anyway, and no bowl to wash!

There are two ways to core an apple we have found: a) my husband does it with an apple corer b) I can never get it right so I quarter and slice on a diagonal to take out the core. 

Chop the apples up and place in the crock pot with a stick of cinnamon, 2 lemon peels {less if you do less apples} and juice of a lemon {again, less if you do less apples}. Stir up and set crock pot for 6 hours on low. 

When it's done, you can either whisk it up {for chunky applesauce}, use an emmersion blender {I find they never blend it as well}, or put in a blender. 

I whisk the batch up for my husband to have and take about half and add to the blender. I blend this for my daughter, for her oatmeal in the morning, and freeze in an ice cube tray. 

The applesauce lasts about 3 weeks in the fridge in an airtight container. {Bad blogger - don't have after pics - maybe I can add them next time I make it!}

{Click here to download recipe}

Enjoy!