Pear-Spiked Applesauce

Submitted by Gaia22

"I found this yummy recipe in a Food & Wine magazine a few years back. I believe it is originally a Gale Gand recipe, however I am rewriting from memory & I know I prefer less water than whatever was in the original. I couldn't believe how easy and how wonderful homemade applesauce tastes! I prefer cinnamon in my applesauce, but I'm sure you can leave it out, increase it [my preference!], or add other warm spices to taste. Change around the variety of apples and have fun with it! I don't like mine too sweet, so one could use 3 McIntoshes & 1 Granny Smith for example. I find this recipe is a well-balanced base to reference."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Yields: 3-4 cups
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 4 apples, McIntosh or 4 a variety of not-too-sweet apples, peeled, cored, and chunked
• 2 bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and chunked
• 3⁄4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1⁄4 - 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon

directions

1. Throw apples, pears, lemon juice and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer until the fruit breaks down and magically creates that characteristic applesauce texture, about 45 minutes.
3. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Leave as a chunky applesauce or use a hand-blender to puree it further as desired.
4. Yummy warm or cold!
5. Store in refrigerator tightly covered. I'd say this keeps for about a week.
6. I've never tried freezing it; if you do, please let me know how it turns out. With proper knowledge I'm sure this can probably be canned for long term storage as well, however, I don't know enough about it at this point. Enjoy!