BELLOWS FALLS — The color of Vermont in autumn is not yellow or orange, it is apple red.
We once lived in a cabin in the woods in the mountains. The edge of the property carried a small stand of extremely old apple trees. More dead wood than live, and shrunken in stature to almost-grotesque shapes, the trees had seen more glorious days.
However, every few years, they bore an incredible flush of apples, an heirloom variety I never identified. They were beautiful, with stripes of red and pink and green on the peel, and the inner flesh a pale blush with streaks of deeper pink.
They were as tasty as they were beautiful, and I gathered as many as I could to make applesauce for the year. So sweet, the sauce needed no sugar and little in the way of spice. Cooking it on my wood stove, I fell in love with making and canning applesauce.
Mom's applesauce
I made the applesauce the way my mom did - no peeling, no seeding, no coring. No recipe, either. Just cut up apples, cook them, and put them through the food mill.
This made the work not only quick and easy, but fun as well. The food mill did most of the work, and the task was done in no time. Any sugar or spice added was done with the old reliable “handful” or “pinch” measure “until it tastes right.”
No need to improve on this old technique! The process is already efficient of time and the sauce perfect of texture.
If you do not own a food mill - the original food processor, but even better - consider this modest purchase. For $20 to $30 at the hardware store (less at a flea market), you will have a piece of kitchen equipment you'll use for years.
This handy-dandy gadget purees vegetables, soups, and sauces perfectly. It makes quick work of making baby food and ricing potatoes for a mash. One of the best features, and its advantage over a food processor, is that while it purees, it separates the peelings, core, seeds, and other inedible parts from the fruit, thus saving peeling and coring time!
The food mill is also fun to operate, and the kids (of all ages) love using it, too.
You can make applesauce with just apples, a little water, and a little time. For a bit more flavor, use apple cider, and add lemon juice, vanilla, and cinnamon at the end, if you like.
You do not need to make a bushel of apples into sauce and spend all day canning! If you haven't made applesauce before, start with a little batch while dinner cooks. Just five or six apples are all you need - tuck what you don't use in the refrigerator!
The technique: Peel and core a mix of your favorite apples, then cut into small chunks. If you use more than one type of apple, you will get an applesauce with a more balanced and interesting flavor, but choose what you like to eat.
If you have a food mill: Quarter the apples, then cut into eighths, or other small sizes depending on the original size of your apples. The smaller the pieces, the quicker they will cook. You'll have about 1{1/2} quarts of cut-up apples.
Put the apples in a large pot and add
¶{1/2} cup or so of cider or water, maybe a tad bit more.
Bring to a boil, cover tightly, and let cook/steam over medium low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the apples are soft and skins pull away from the flesh.
Place the food mill over a bowl, and add a couple of large spoonfuls of cooked apples at a time, turning the handle clockwise and occasionally backward to keep things moving freely. Don't forget to scrape the sauce from the bottom of the mill.
If you are not using a food mill: If you don't have a food mill, you will have to peel and core the apples. Then proceed with the same cooking process. When apples are done, mash with a potato masher or pulse in a food processor to the desired consistency.
Once the apples are all pureed, check for seeds; some always manage to make their way into the sauce.
Taste. You can leave it as is if you like it, or make it your own by adding
¶1 tsp. vanilla extract
¶the juice of {1/2} lemon
¶{1/2} tsp. cinnamon
Taste again. If you want it sweeter, you can add more spice, and a little
¶sugar or honey to taste
It's all up to you - and the flavor of the apples you picked!
Triple apple crisp muffins
A trip to the orchard can be dangerous. It is always lots of fun, especially if you bring kids, but it takes much less time than we anticipate, so we keep picking, and in no time, we have a bushel of apples - every one precious, so they all have to come home!
We'll make a pie and cut out doughnut-shaped apple rings to dry. But the biggest dent will be the making of applesauce. Luckily, it is one of the easiest first dishes to make with kids, and one that is finished quickly.
That first bowl of applesauce on its own is delicious. But then what do you do with all the rest of that sauce?
I use the sauce in many other ways - as a topping, a substitute for fat in quick-bread recipes, perhaps an extra layer of moisture in a tart.
In muffins, applesauce keeps each little cake moist and lends flavor, as it does in this recipe for a moist apple muffin, topped with the part of apple crisp everyone wants more of!
These muffins have lots of flavor, but if you want to add more, soak the apples and raisins in dark rum for a half hour before adding to the recipe. Raisins are always optional!
I've used applesauce in this recipe to replace some of the oil; it also adds some flavor and a nice texture.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with 16 paper cups (this recipe will make between 14 and 16 muffins), or oil liberally.
In a large bowl, peel, core, and dice:
¶ 3 cups apples, divided
Add optional ingredients:
¶ {1/3} cup raisins or dried cranberries, optional
¶ 2 Tbsp. dark rum, optional
To make the topping, combine:
¶ {1/3} cup brown sugar
¶ {1/3} cup white sugar
¶ {3/4} cup flour
¶ {1/2} cup old fashioned oats
¶ 1 stick butter, chopped
¶1 tsp. cinnamon
Mix with your fingers or a pastry blender. You will want the consistency of cookie dough; it will clump together when squeezed. Add:
¶1 cup of the diced apples, minced a bit more
Set aside.
Prepare the muffin batter. In a large bowl, mix:
¶2{1/2} cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
¶1 tsp. baking soda
¶{1/2} tsp. salt
¶1 tsp. cinnamon
In a second bowl, combine:
¶1{1/2} cups brown sugar
¶{1/3} cup vegetable oil
¶{1/3} cup applesauce
¶1 large egg
¶1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix:
¶{1/3} cup sour cream
¶{2/3} cup milk
Make sure the milk comes to the 1-cup mark on the cup. Mix well, and add to the sugar/applesauce mixture; then add the combined wet mixture all at once to the flour mixture.
Gently stir just until combined, then fold in the remaining 2 cups of apples and the raisins, if using.
With any quick bread, you need a gentle hand in mixing so as not to develop the gluten in the flour. By the way, this recipe is also good when made with gluten-free flour.
Using an ice-cream scoop, fill the muffin cups nearly full, then finish off with the topping mixture, clumping it over each muffin. Use all the topping mixture. This makes between 14 and 16 muffins. If you have two muffin pans, perfect, but you can also do this in batches.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the tops start to brown and the muffins feel firm.
Let set for a full 10 minutes, then carefully remove from the pan with the help of a large spoon, and cool completely on a wire rack.
You won't be able to resist, and you will eat one hot, but as they set, the top will crisp up even more.