Apple Sauce and Cranberry Ginger Applesauce

I had a ton of apples from my tree this year. So, I decided to try my hand at applesauce. First, I made the unsweetened apple sauce. This was quite good, but a bit flat for my taste. I made several batches for baby food for all the babies I know. I didn't add lemon or fruit fresh since I'm not up on the current baby feeding rules. The recipe is from this post.

In the second recipe I added a mere 1/4 c sugar and a cinnamon stick. This took the applesauce from very good to spectacular. I'm still not a huge fan of the texture of applesauce, but I really like this version. I plan to serve it with potato pancakes for breakfast over Christmas vacation.

The cinnamon ginger applesauce is good also. I cut the amount of sugar way down from the original recipe. My family is a huge fan of tart. I may cut the sugar down even more next time. 1 used 1 T ginger as called for in the original recipe. The ginger was a bit too pronounced for my personal taste, so I cut the amount in half in the recipe below. If you prefer sweeter applesauce with more ginger (as I suspect many people would) check out the original post on Pinch My Salt. If you want to get all Martha Stewart you could serve the cranberry applesauce with my sweet potato pancakes (without the spices).

***Instead of coring and cutting the apples into pieces, I used an apple/corer/slicer/peeler. The peeling part of my machine hasn't worked for years. That's not a problem since the food mill filters out the peels anyway. Once the apples are sliced, make one cut down the apples to make apple circles. If you own one of these machines, that will make sense to you. If you have an apple tree, the corer/slicer/peeler is a worthwhile investment.

Apple Sauce (unsweetened)
INGREDIENTS
10-12 lbs of apples or enough to fill a 12 quart stock pot, cored and chopped
1/2 c water
lemon juice or fruit fresh (optional to prevent browning)

Place ingredients in a stock pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Stir several times to move the top apples to the bottom. When the apples are soft, it's done. Run the contents through a food mill and discard the solids.

Cinnamon Apple Sauce
INGREDIENTS
10-12 lbs of apples or enough to fill a 10-quart stock pot
1/2 c water
1/4 c sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 T lemon juice (or fruit fresh in an undetermined amount)

Place all ingredients in the stock pot with the cinnamon stick on the bottom. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Stir the apples several times to move the bottom apples to the top. As it cooks, the apples will release more water. When all the apples are soft, it is done. Remove cinnamon stick and run the contents of the pot through a food mill. Discard the solids left in the food mill.



Cranberry Ginger Apple Sauce
INGREDIENTS
4-5 lbs baking apples, quartered and cored (or use the apple/corer/peeler)
1/2 c water
1 T lemon juice
1 12 oz package of cranberries
1/2 c sugar
1/2 T grated ginger
pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a dutch oven. Bring the water to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer 30 minutes. Stir the applesauce a few times, moving the top apples to the bottom. When the apples are mushy it is done. Run everything through the food mill. Discard the peels left in the food mill.

German Apple Pancake (Pannakuken)

If you are from the Fargo area, you probably remember the Pannakuken Restaurant. When they brought out a pannakuken, the waitresses would run from the kitchen shouting PANNAKUKEN!!! I never made it to the restaurant, but I've seen it imitated enough to feel as if I had been there. College was divided into two camps: People who would consider being a waitress and yelling PANNAKUKEN!!! and people who would NEVER consider working there. The debate was ongoing. I was part of the "would consider it" camp, and my roommate belongs to the "would never consider it" camp.

A few notes on the recipe:

The first time I made this recipe I liked it more then the second time I made it. I'd suggest making apple crisp instead. It's a better apple recipe. Pannakuken is very sweet. The recipe says it serves four, but I'd suggest serving 6-8 people. I'd also suggest serving it as the dessert part of your breakfast or as actual dessert. The pannakuken took longer to cook in my oven then the recipe states. That may just be my oven however. I didn't peel the apples. I have an apple tree and was over the idea of peeling by the time I made this recipe. Oops, my camera ran out of batteries before I took a picture with the powdered sugar sprinkled on the top. This recipe came from "Cooks Illustrated The New Best Recipe".

GERMAN APPLE PANCAKE (PANNAKUKEN)

A 10-inch ovenproof skillet is necessary for this recipe; we highly recommend using a nonstick skillet for the sake of easy cleanup, but a regular skillet will work as well. You can also use a cast-iron pan; if you do, set the oven temperature to 425 degrees in step 1, and when cooking the apples in step 3, cook them only until just barely golden, about 6 minutes. Cast iron retains heat better than stainless steel, making the higher oven temperature unnecessary. If you prefer tart apples, use Granny Smiths; if you prefer sweet ones, use Braeburns. For serving, dust the apple pancake with confectioners' sugar and pass warm maple syrup or caramel sauce separately, if desired.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 c flour

1 T sugar

1/2 tsp table salt

2 eggs

2/3 c half and half

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 T Butter

1 1/4 lb granny smith or baeburn apples (3 to 4 large apples), peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

1/4 c brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp lemon juice

confectioners sugar for dusting

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat oven to 500 degrees.

2. Whisk to combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk eggs half-and-half, and vanilla until combined. Add liquid ingredients to dry and whisk until no lumps remains, about 20 seconds; set batter aside.

3. Heat butter in 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until sizzling. Add apples, brown sugar and cinnamon; cook, stirring frequently with a heatproof rubber spatula, until apples are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice.

4. Working quickly, pour batter around the outside edge of the pan

and then over the apples. Place skillet in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees; bake until pancake edges are brown and puffy and have risen above edges of skillet, about 18 minutes. Mine took much longer, but I think my oven temperature is a bit off.

5. Shout Pannakuken at the top of your lungs while running through the house.

6. Using oven mitts to protect hands, remove hot skillet from oven and loosen pancake edges with a heatproof spatula; invert pancake onto serving platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges and serve.