Apple Sauce
If you are looking for a yummy sweet dip idea for kids, I don’t think it gets any easier than making your own homemade apple sauce. It is so versatile that we use it in multiple ways. Our latest favourite is as a dip for whole grain blender pancakes instead of your conventional breakfast syrup. We try our best to make sure that when the kids are eating anything sweet, it is complimented by something high in fibre as well to help regulate the glucose (sugar). Apple sauce is great because it contains the sweetness kids love with all the fibre from the apples as well. Combined with our favourite blender pancake recipe it makes for a great & hearty meal. Some other ways to use apple sauce are to replace oil in baking recipes such as muffins, dehydrated into fruit roll ups, as a dip for crackers or vegetables such as celery & lettuce, as a spread for “lightly” toasted bread, in peanut butter and apple sandwiches or wraps & even on oatmeal. Of course eating it plain by the spoonful is just fine too and it’s a GREAT baby food. I usually end up freezing at least half of the recipe in ice cube trays and then transfer to a sealable container afterwards for small unit servings.
So without any specific measurements here’s how to make it:
- Your favourite apples (we like gala or honey crisp)
- Lemon juice (just a squeeze)
- Cinnamon (optional)
- Water
- It's up to you whether you want to peel your apples or not. Not peeling them is ok if you have a high powered blender to blend it up well but most times I peel them.
- So peel and chop your apples into rough chunks
- Place in a pot with a little bit of water (1 TB) to prevent sticking
- Add a sqeeze of fresh lemon. (Enough to prevent the apples from turning dark brown but not so much that it becomes sour and looses the sweet flavour.
- Add cinnamon to taste if you like...I usually do
- Cook on medium high stirring often until the apples start to break down.
- You may have to add more water a little at a time to help prevent burning or sticking to your pan but just keep cooking until all the apples are very tender.
- Transfer to your high powered blender and blend to desired consistency. Sometimes we leave chunks sometimes we make it smooth. Depending on what we are using it for.
- You can store right away or I sometimes transfer back to the pot and cook just a little longer.
- You can make raw apple sauce as well without cooking at all in your blender but cooking it just pulls out the sweet flavour a little more and you get an even smoother result.
- Experiment with your favourite kinds of apples or other fruit such as peaches, pears, plums and other available or in season fruit. But the riper the better because it will taste more sweet.
