Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

We paid a visit to our very first apple orchard this past weekend, and we had the best time! Our little nugget loved exploring the farm – meeting the chickens, donkeys, horses, and turkeys. We meandered through beautiful flower gardens and counted the apples that had fallen from the trees. But the best part was picking out our very own apples to bring home…and the apple cider donuts! Let’s not forget about the apple cider donuts! 🙂

Our little nugget happily filled up a bag with apples…selections that she carefully made all by herself. And when she was finished, she picked one to eat right on the spot. It was the first time I’ve seen her finish an entire apple (without it being sliced), so I knew it had to be good.

We hauled the rest of our delectable apples back home, where we decided to use them to make a variety of tasty treats! First on the docket was this incredible Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce!

This was our first foray into making homemade applesauce and it was incredibly easy – you only need four ingredients! One thing we did learn during the process, is that it takes a lot of apples to yield a moderate amount of applesauce. We set aside 5 small(ish) apples for our applesauce, and when the process was all said and done, we made 1-1/2 to 2 cups of applesauce. It was less than I was anticipating, but the perfect amount for us to share for our afternoon snack.

That being said, if you would like to make more than 2 cups of applesauce at once, I recommend doubling (or even tripling) the following recipe.

Ingredients:

4-5 Small/Medium Apples
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Instructions:

Peel and slice the apples. Place the sliced apples in a small pot and add the water.
Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until the apples are tender and soft (approximately 20 minutes).
Stir in the sugar and cook until it dissolves (approximately 5 minutes).
Stir in the cinnamon.
Remove from heat. If you prefer your applesauce to be super smooth, feel free to press it through a strainer (using the back of a spoon) or pulse it in a food processor.
Cool and serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

This recipe yields approximately 1-1/2 to 2 cups of delicious applesauce.

Making our very own homemade applesauce was such a special way for us to commemorate our trip to the apple orchard. And an opportunity to show our little nugget one of the many ways that apples can be utilized for food. She loved helping make her very own scrumptious afternoon snack, and she devoured every single morsel!

She’s been requesting more homemade applesauce ever since. I guess we need to make another trip to the orchard, to round up an entire bushel full of apples, so we can double or triple the batch next time! 🙂