beauty:design:life

The sights and smells of fall never fail to bring back a lot of lovely memories for me, from starting new school years and new jobs, to the first months of dating my husband, to walks through the deliciously crunchy leaves on my beautiful college campus. 

One of my sweetest memories, though, comes from when I was young. For several years in a row, my mom and sisters and I took an autumn trip to the apple orchard and picked all the apples we could carry. Then we came home and spent the rest of the day making applesauce. I can remember my mom standing over the stove as the applesauce bubbled away, making our house smell absolutely divine. Then, when it was done, we would all try a bite. I can't remember anything tasting better than that warm, delicious cinnamon applesauce.

This year, I was determined to recreate that treasured memory. Ryan and I went apple-picking at a darling little orchard south of the Twin Cities, and came home with dozens of apples perfect for homemade applesauce. And although the process wasn't quite as fun without my mom or sisters, the end product was just as delicious as I remembered.

at the apple orchard

 took a trip through the corn maze...

and hit the orchard!

The next day, I got busy.

I used several kinds of apples - regent, red haralson, and honeycrisp, among others.

cored, peeled, chopped, and ready to go!

 my kitchen helper got pretty excited when a few apple chunks got loose

the finished product!

It was just as I remembered it: warm, sweet, and delicious.

I found two applesauce recipes and decided that I had to try both. I'm glad I did - they were subtly different, and both were so yummy.

8-10 apples, with a variety of tartness

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground flaxseed

1 cinnamon stick

Core, peel and roughly chop apples. Combine apples, water and cinnamon stick in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 30 minutes. Mash apples to desired consistency (I like chunky so I didn't mash them much) with a spoon. Add maple syrup and ground cinnamon. Eat warm!

Core, peel and roughly chop apples. Combine apples, water, brown sugar and cinnamon stick in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 30 minutes. Uncover and simmer for a few more minutes to reduce the water level. Mash apples to desired consistency with a spoon, add lemon juice and ground cinnamon.

Enjoy!