Buy apples....peel and cut into chunks, place in a sauce pan add some apple juice or cider to about 1 inch in the pan....cover and cook until tender...add sugar to taste and as much cinnamon as you like.
Linda C

Thanks Linda. Having not made applesauce before I was looking for a recipe with specific measurements. After reading quite a few on-line, I created my own version which was a hit with everyone. Even my husband, who doesn't like chunky applesauce and uses VERY few words to express his pleasure with good food, really liked it. The applesauce was a big hit with my mom's pork loin.

I'm planning to make it many more times and experiment with different apples of varying sweetness and adjust the sugar to taste.

I'm proud of myself for coming up with my own recipe and turning it into a success. Now that I see how easy and adaptable the recipe is, I can understand the simplicity of the one you shared. :-)

Thanks.

Jenn,
Are you willing to share your personal recipe? I think the "chunky applesauce" comes with not cooking it down too much. I use an immersion blender to pure' it to the desired degree of chunkiness when the apples are softened. There's not a whole lot to making applesauce. Unfortunately for new cooks, there are common practices that aren't necessarily passed on in recipes. For instance, you can't give amounts of apples to water or apple juice -- it's an apple-cover-with-water (or apple juice) thing. I never add sugar until the apples are at the consistency I want and I take the pot off the stove to begin cooling -- and I use raw sugar. It's something you develop over time; and it depends on your apples and preferences.
I'm glad your applesauce was a hit. I would love to know what you came up with for your recipe.
Annie

Hi Annie, yeah, now that I've made it just once I can see what you mean. That's why I want to experiment with other types of apples and length of cooking and see the outcome of each variation. Applesauce isn't rocket science.

Here's the recipe exactly as I made it. Again, we all loved it. My niece had thirds and my mom raved about it again today. With no additional sugar added, it had the right amount of sweetness with just a light cinnamon taste, not too overpowering.

Chunky Applesauce

- 8 Golden Delicious Apples, peeled, cored and cut into large bite-size chunks
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Peel, core and chop the apples into large bite-size chunks. As each apple is chopped put it into a bowl of cool water mixed with the 1 Tbsp. lemon juice.

When all apples are chopped, reserve 1/2 cup water and discard the remainder, allowing some water to remain on the apple chunks (i.e. you don't need to shake it all off -- it's not rocket science and you can strain extra liquid out later if you wish).

Put the apples, reserved 1/2 cup water, and the brown sugar into a crock pot. Set to High setting and cook 2 hours. Test for doneness; if desired, cook another 1/2 hour then test again. Apples should be soft enough to mash, but firm enough to retain some chunkiness. (Again, this is not rocket science!)

Remove apples from crock pot with slotted spoon, reserving the liquid. Mash with a potato masher to desired chunkiness. Add cinnamon, mix well to blend the flavors.

Allow to cool and refrigerate, or serve warm.

Strain the liquid from the crock pot into a drinking glass, then enjoy the delicious taste of homemade unfiltered apple juice.

I have some ideas to test with the next batches -- I'll let you know how they turn out. :-)

Thanks, Jenn,
I'm saving this one to try in my crock pot in the future.
Annie

You're welcome, Annie. I hope you enjoy it.