What's Happening in Merri's Kitchen: Cinnamon Applesauce

I buy apples every fall from a local orchard. If you keep these apples in the bags they come in, they will last a very long time in cold storage. In this case, my garage fridge. But, this was definitely the far end of that storage range and some of those apples didn't make it. I had made a strong push the week before, making apple pie, but I wanted to finish them up, and just didn't feel like another pie.

I've made applesauce many times before, but usually on the stove top. This time I decided to use my crockpot because I was using the stove top for other things. Mine's an original Rival Crockpot, over 30 years old! Still works great.

I peeled and cored and cut big chunks of Granny Smith and Jonathan apples, and tossed them all in the crockpot. I was going to share this applesauce with a friend who loves a lot of cinnamon, so I put a whole teaspoon of cinnamon in the pot. The crockpot says a whole cup of sugar but I really thought that would be too sweet so only put in half a cup and that was more than enough. And I added 1/2 cup of water.

Lid on, on low, 8 hours or so. Mash with a potato masher.

And you have sauce.

This is an applesauce with a lot of cinnamon flavor. I probably like mine with a little less cinnamon, but my friend likes it a lot. I managed to eat it with no problem though.

Crockpot Cinnamon Applesauce

A mix of apples peeled, cored, and cut in chunks, as many as you like (or can fit in the pot)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Add all to the crockpot, cover, and turn on low. After approximately eight hours, test the apples for tenderness and if very tender mash with a potato masher into a chunky sauce.

Note: I made this with an original, older crockpot. I keep hearing that the newer crockpots cook at a higher heat, so you might want to adjust for that if you have a newer slow cooker.