This year I’m celebrating the holidays with a “12 Days of Christmas” series on the abundances of our kitchen and garden. Share your experiences, too, and happy holidays!
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …
3 quarts of applesauce,
2 half-gallons of sauerkraut,
and 1 quart of yogurt, homemade.
Applesauce. It’s yellow and uniform, right?
Au contraire, my Joy of Cooking disciple. You *do* have a copy of the Joy of Cooking, don’t you? If not, allow me to hint that you might have been very good this year and deserve a very helpful cookbook as a New Year’s gift. If you were put off by all the criticism of Joy of Cooking in the recent film “Julie & Julia,” allow me to point out that I bought the book on the strength of a chef and culinary instructor at a New York City French cooking school … who relied on Joy of Cooking for the school bakery’s phenomenal bran muffins. It is a great resource to have.
Now that that’s over, open your cookbook to the applesauce recipe. So simple. So straightforward. So perfect a thing to make with some of the many pecks of apples we received from our CSA this fall. (A peck, by the way, is two dry gallons, or 1/4 bushel.)
In my case, I did not even peel all my apples, to retain some of the pectin-y goodness and lend a beautiful pink color. I stirred up a big pot and simmered it on the stove. It finished cooking as my eight-year-old and a visiting friend came upstairs seeking snacks.
“Applesauce?!” They looked at me, aghast, when I offered it (what did I think they were – babies?), but the cinnamon aroma was reeling them in.
“Just try it,” I cajoled. We sat down to warm bowls. They had seconds, then thirds.
We have eaten it warm for dessert, for breakfast with granola, stirred into yogurt or oatmeal. Dessert, guilt-free, any time of day, one comforting pink spoonful at a time.
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Comments ( 5 )
[...] 12 Days of Christmas: Homemade applesauce [...]
12 Days of Christmas: Homebrewed beer | Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on Dec 29 09 at 5:09 am[...] 12 Days of Christmas: Homemade applesauce [...]
12 Days of Christmas: Daikon pickle for banh mi | Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on Dec 30 09 at 10:15 am[...] fat to render 6 farm-fresh eggs, 5 daikon pickled for banh mi, 4-some gallons of beer, 3 quarts of applesauce, 2 half-gallons of sauerkraut, and 1 quart of yogurt, [...]
12 Days of Christmas: Anisette for the last day | Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on Jan 06 10 at 5:36 amThere’s nothing like homemade applesauce IMO. Especially since what you can buy at the store is usually so… smooth. I like a little more texture and chunk in my ‘sauce.
Another wonderful take? Pear sauce. If you wind up with pears that are maybe a little too mealy in the mouth-feel department, you can make ‘em into sauce, and you’ll never notice the mealiness. Sooo delicious in late January; almost better than summer-canned tomatoes!
L'an added these pithy words on
Dec 29 09 at
9:45 am
I make mine in the crockpot from an internet recipe; I really should crack open my cookbooks more often… I should also get on with a CSA next year — unless I’m working. And The Joy of Cooking is at Costco! 40% off the cover price! (At least it’s still in Brooklyn… maybe not at all Costcos).
Angelique added these pithy words on
Dec 30 09 at
9:26 am
