Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Autumn is officially here and I'm celebrating this week with one of my favorite fall fruits: Apples.  Living in Upstate NY, we're lucky to have apple orchards almost as frequent as Wegman's locations and that means plenty of opportunities to pick your own or purchase already picked apples from a local farm.  Why are apples so great?  Because they're not only nutritious and inexpensive, but they're extremely versatile in ways to eat them.  Apples are an excellent source of fiber, low in calories and easy to transport to bring with you to have with your lunch or as a snack.  They are great just simply raw, but they can also be baked and added to oatmeal or by themselves with a little cinnamon for a low calorie dessert.  Of course they're always great in a homemade pie, fritter, or dumpling, but adding them to a favorite whole wheat muffin recipe can make for a delicious breakfast or snack.  Using applesauce in place of oil is another way to cut down on calories from fat when baking.  In addition to all of these attributes, I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon than picking your own apples. Here's a little bit about the different varieties of apples offered here in New York State:

McIntosh: sweet with a little bit of tartness and very juicy, great on their own for snacking or for cooking
Empire: also sweet and slightly tart and juicy, also great for snacking
Gala: very crisp and mildly sweet
Jonagold: sweet and juicy with a little tartness, great for cooking
Cortland: sweet with a little tartness, white on the inside- I like these best for baking
Red Delicious: dark red color, very sweet
Paula Red: very crisp, tart and juicy, good for baking
Macoun: very sweet and juicy
Autumn Crisp: very crisp and juicy

It's hard to decide on my favorite recipe to use with apples, so I think I'll just start with this super simple one for homemade cinnamon applesauce that can be added to many other dishes and maybe share a few more as the week goes on.  I love this recipe because only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook and you only need 3 ingredients...pretty easy huh?  I also love it because you can freeze any extra applesauce you have, use it for baking, or as a topping for pancakes, oatmeal, or with a little low fat vanilla yogurt for a healthy dessert.  Here's what I did:

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

4-5 large apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
1 cup water
2-3 cinnamon sticks

Place apple slices in a large pot and add water and cinnamon sticks.  Bring to a boil, then lower temperature to a simmer and cook covered for about 20 minutes or until apples are soft and most of the water is absorbed.  Remove remaining cinnamon sticks and use a potato masher to mash apples.  If you prefer smoother applesauce, you can use a hand blender or food processor to blend out all of the chunks.

A good idea for using all of the apple peels and cinnamon sticks after your done prepping is to place them all in a saucepan with water and simmer them, making a very cheap and environmentally-friendly air freshener for your home.  Who can resist the scent of apples and cinnamon on a chilly fall day?