Got Apples?

I had a blast making apple sauce and apple butter with some 4-Hers today at our humble abode. I love homemade apple butter for their PBJs because we know what's in it and, just as importantly, we know what's not. This is a simple recipe that can be tweaked according to your tastes regarding sweetness and texture.

Apple Sauce and Apple Butter

Ingredients:
- 6 apples (2 red delicious, 2 granny smith, 2 gala)
- 1/4 C demerara or rapadura
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Peel and dice the apples.
2. Put about 1/2 inch water in a 1-quart pot.
3. Add the diced apples, sugar, and cinnamon to the pot. Cover.
4. Cook on medium heat until the apples are soft; stirring occassionally, approximately 20 minutes.
5. Mash the apples in the pot with a potato masher (it will be a bit chunky but we like chunky apple sauce/butter).
** Now it's apple sauce! Enjoy some in a bowl while you continue on and make apple butter :)
6. Cook with the lid off until all of the water is cooked off and you reach your desired consistency, stirring constantly, approximately 10 minutes.

This recipe made about a quart - it's hard to say exactly because we tasted it at the apple sauce stage and the apple butter stage. For tasting the apple butter I spread it on the crackers from the previous post.

Kelly is hosting this week's Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival. http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/10/real-food-wednesday-blog-carnival-for-102809.html
Visit her link for lots of real food recipe links as part of the carnival.