Ontario has had an exceptional apple season this year and it's been apples all day, every day around here and, well, I’ve gone a little crazy with my apple menu.
I make no apologies because clearly I’m not alone considering all the recipes floating around, and it can’t be a bad thing that my children reach into the bushel sitting on the kitchen floor for their afternoon snacks instead of into a cookie jar. Is there such a thing as an apple overdose? Because we’re probably close.
This is the part where you wonder how such perfect children came about who would choose apples over cookies and where I confess that my favourite day of the school week is pizza lunch day, followed closely by the day my teenage son brings money to school and goes out with friends, where he is decidedly not eating apples. He doesn’t tell me where they lunch, but if I were to guess I'd say it involves grease and rubbery meat and crap I wouldn't approve of. I pretend not to know that he’s making poor food choices. Kids need some rebellion and if eating the occasional fast food gut-bomb is part of it, he can have at it. I just keep a ready supply of healthy food at home — apples — as well as a supply of probiotics.
It doesn't get easier than this recipe: three ingredients + one slow cooker = a delicious dessert. The orange juice adds just enough sweetness to minimize any acidity from the apples, as well as liquid so that nothing sticks.
Ingredients:
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
Wash, peel, core, and slice the apples. Use a corer/slicer if you have one.
Put the apple slices into the crockpot. Sprinkle the cinnamon over top and finish with the orange juice.
Stir gently to distribute the cinnamon and set the slow cooker to low for six hours.
Walk away and forget it.
Once the cooking time is complete, give a final stir and then use a potato masher to get the desired consistency.
Refrigerate once cooled or conserve by canning what can't be eaten during the week.
Yields 3.75 liters or 16 cups of applesauce.
Bon appétit!
Make this family favourite caramelized apple cake to squeeze all the goodness out of the season.
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