apple sauce

I have made, what, four apple cakes, and none of them have turned out.

Sigh.

But I still had a bunch of apples, so I pulled out Baby Cakes again, determined that perhaps this one last time, something from their cookbook would turn out the way I expected.

Cartoonist saw the book, and said, no, you are not going to make another apple cake, and you are not going to do it from Baby Cakes.

OK, I said, the continued, getting the apples ready to roast.

But as I read the recipe, I realized that I really just wanted to make apple sauce, and not from that book, but from the Jewish Holiday Treats, which is much easier, and I have done many times before.

• Cut up the apples
• put in water
• put in some sugar
• put in some cinnamon

Sorry to be so vague here, but I always wing it when I make it. I use up about four to six apples, but could be more, depending on their size. Sometimes I throw in pears.

Funny thing, was, when it was done, Cartoonist tried it on the apple cake I had made the other day, and said it worked, that perhaps that was one of the things it was missing.

apples cooking

I was at a loss. I had baked and cooked, and couldn’t figure out what else to do. I lamented to my sweetie, when she called, that I still had all these apples left, and I didn’t want them to go bad.

Why don’t you make apple sauce? she asked. That is what you usually do when you want to use up apples.

Ah, of course, and it was the simplest recipe in the world. I had gotten if from the Jewish Holiday Treats recipe book. I make it for Passover every year, because it tastes so good with latkas. It is called  Kids’ Applesauce, probably because it is so easy.  It takes 2 pounds of apples, which is, I don’t know, about seven of them, 1/2 cup of water, 3 tablespoons of sugar and juice of one lemon. I usually add a tablespoon of cinnamon. Throw all that into a pot and cover and  simmer over low heat.

Once the apples are soft, which takes a half an hour or so, although I am usually doing something else in the kitchen, so I don’t really time it, I just go by the smell and the sound. Anyway, once it they are soft, you turn off the flame, and take a potato masher, and mush them up. I suppose i could use a food mill, but when I started making these, I didn’t have a food mill.

Applesauce done

Once it is done you can eat it or store it, so store it I did. It make the whole kitchen smell so good, and I could still smell it in the morning when I got up. Too bad I didn’t have any latkes to eat it with.