Applesauce

My applesauce won a Second Place ribbon and the 2012 Tillamook County Fair!

Start by making sure your apples are washed. Yes it is a tedious process but you won't want any dirt on the outside of your apples. Trust me.

Quarter your apples. Seeds and stems do not need to be removed. (This is a plus!)

I use a juicer for this next part. A juicer looks like this:

The bottom portion is filled with water. The top portion is where the quartered apples will go. I fill mine all the way up to the top and put the lid on. The middle portion collects the "juice" that is steamed out of the fruit and comes out the clear tube that you see. I always put a very large stockpot on a stool and place it directly under the clear tube - taking off the metal stopper. This way the juice can come out when it's ready. I will stop the juicer tutorial at this point because this recipe only calls for making apple juice. The soft apples remaining at the top will be used for making applesauce.

Top part of the juicer - the one with all the holes will have your softened apples.  I usually grab the biggest spoon I have and start scooping them into this:

It's sort of old-fashioned.  It's a food strainer.  I start filling it up with the apples - seeds, peels and all.  The wooden paddle smashes the fruit down so only the "sauce" comes out the holes leaving the peels and seeds inside.  This part is the hard part so involve your family.  Especially since they are the ones eating it.  I know there are other food mills out there but this is my preferred method - as old-fashioned as it is.

I have a few really big bowls that I just fill up with my applesauce then proceed to the next step with is heating the sauce back up and adding sugar and cinnamon to taste - if desired.  I don't always add sugar and cinnamon.  I leave some of my sauce unsweetened for baking purposes.  If you feel your sauce is too thick - mix in some of the apple juice you just made from the juicer.

Once your applesauce is heated back up - fill your jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Wipe rims and add hot lids and bands.
Process in a water bath making sure your jars are covered with the hot boiling water.  Process 20 minutes/quarts and 15 minutes/pints.

You will have to make many, many jars to keep your family happy.  I promise. 

Apple Juice

My apple juice won a blue ribbon at the 2011 Tillamook County Fair.  It also won a blue ribbon at the 2012 Tillamook County Fair.

Apple Juice
Before you start, place lids in saucepan, cover with water, place on stovetop and turn on low.  You want your lids hot - but not boiling.

Start by making sure your apples are washed.  Yes it is a tedious process but you won't want any dirt on the outside of your apples. Trust me.

Quarter your apples.  Seeds and stems do not need to be removed.  (This is a plus!)

I use a juicer for this next part.  A juicer looks like this:

The bottom portion is filled with water.  The top portion is where the quartered apples will go.  I fill mine all the way up to the top and put the lid on.  The middle portion collects the "juice" that is steamed out of the fruit and comes out the clear tube that you see.  I always put a very large stockpot on a stool and place it directly under the clear tube - taking off the metal stopper.   This way the juice can come out when it's ready.  I will stop the juicer tutorial at this point because this recipe only calls for making apple juice.  The soft apples remaining at the top will be used for making applesauce.

Your juice that has come out of the juicer is now ready for canning.  Fill your clean jars to within 1/2 inch headspace.  Wipe the rims.  Place hot lids on and screw on bands.  Process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes for BOTH pints and quarts.  Make sure your water covers the tops of your jars.  Start the timer when the water is boiling.

When your jars have cooled off - the next day remove bands and wash both bands and jars.  Label.  Now you have your own apple juice to either drink hot with some cinnamon added, cold after refrigeration, or for baking if a recipe calls for apple juice.  And you did it yourself!  Congratulations!

Apple Peel Jelly

This apple jelly was a Blue Ribbon winner at the 2011 Tillamook County Fair.  It also won another Blue Ribbon at the 2012 Tillamook County Fair.
I wish I knew about this technique years ago! I made this and the boys love it! Who would have thought there was any use for the apple scraps after making applesauce? I surely didn't. But I got to thinking....I use the peach peelings/pits. Why couldn't I do the same with apples? I found a recipe in an internet search that supported what I thought I could do. It is to die for yummy!

Apple Peel Jelly
Place apple peels, lightly packed in a very large stockpot with 5 cups water. There should be about 3-4 inches of peels in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and boil for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and put on lid. Allow to stand overnight. (Optional, add a cinnamon stick when you let it sit overnight. I did not.)

**I had LOTS of peels/scraps from applesauce making so had 2 huge stockpots. The peels do rehydrate so I did end up adding a bit more water so the weight of the peels didn't burn on the bottom of the pot.

Strain the liquid. I put the peels/water in my juicer and let the juice out into another large stockpot. Make certain you have at least 5 cups. If you find you don't have 5 cups - go ahead and fill in with apple juice. Gradually dissolve 1 box pectin into the liquid and bring to a full rolling boil, over high heat. Add 7 cups of sugar all at once, stirring to dissolve. Return to boiling, and boil hard for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and pour into hot jars. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Your yield will depend on how many cups of liquid you end up with and the size of jars you use.

Carrot-Apple Bars or Muffins

This recipe actually comes from Taste of Home. I have had it for many years. The original recipe calls it Teddy Carrot Bars because they use Teddy Grahams. I changed some things in the actual recipe to make it work for our jars and jars of food storage.

Carrot-Apple Bars or Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 pint carrots, drained

1 pint applesauce

4 eggs

4 TBSP vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients well in a large mixing bowl. You have enough batter here to do a couple different things. You can make 2 9x13 pans OR lots of muffins OR 1 9x13 pan and 12 muffins.

Spray your pans and divide the batter evenly. Bake at 350 degrees. About 20 minutes for the muffins and closer to 30-35 minutes for the 9x13 pan. Cool completely. If desired - frost with favorite cream cheese frosting. I like to frost the 9x13 pan but leave the muffins as is.

Southern Caramel Apple Bars

This was super scrumptious and very "fall-ish!" The recipe comes by way of RecipeNut in Rhode Island.
Southern Caramel Apple Bars
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
4 granny smith apples, peeled and very coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pecans, chopped ( used sliced almonds instead)
24 caramel candies, unwrapped
2 TBSP milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 baking dish.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in medium bowl. Melt butter in large saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in brown sugar and sugar with spoon. Add egg and vanilla; stir until well blended. Add flour mixture; mix well. Press into bottom of prepared baking dish; top with apples.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until edges are browned and pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
Toast pecans (or almonds if you are me) in medium nonstick skillet over med-high heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly or until fragrant. Remove from skillet and set aside.
Heat caramels and milk in same skillet over med-low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth.
Drizzle caramel sauce over cooled apple bars; sprinkle with nuts. Let stand 30 minutes before cutting into bars.

**Kim - this is for you! No - I didn't forget to put the recipe down. I started adding pictures so if I was using a different computer adding the words wasn't a problem. I only have the pics on my computer and Nephi was using it.

Cranapple Pie

I was up bright and early this morning to make this lovely pie. I used 2 quarts of homecanned apple pie filling and cranberries from my freezer. After filling the pie shell - I used the leftover filling to make a very tasty Cranapple Fruit Crisp for dessert tomorrow night!













Cranapple Pie
2 quarts homecanned apple pie filling
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 TBSP cornstarch
3 TBSP water

Lets start with the apple pie filling. It's not thickened when it's canned (you don't can with cornstarch - it's a breeder for bad germs) so we need to do that now. Empty both jars into a large saucepan. Add 3 TBSP cornstarch. Simmer, stirring occasionally until nice and thick. About 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan: combine cranberries, sugar, cornstarch and water. Bring to a full boil over medium heat; stirring frequently; boil gently 5 minutes. When apples are thickened add the cranberries. Mix well. Spoon into 9 inch pie crust. Put remaining pie filling in another oven proof bowl (or make two pies - it's up to you.) Top filling with upper pie crust. Make four slits in upper crust. Brush with a little water and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 375 for about an hour. I don't generally time my baking. Just until the crust is a nice golden brown all over is what I am aiming for. Make a fruit crisp topping for the leftover filling if your hear desires and bake the crisp at 375 for 30 minutes. You can bake both of these at the same time. :) Then your house will smell so good. Your kids will come up to you wanting to know when the cinnamon rolls are going to be ready. They are then disappointed when you tell them you aren't making cinnamon rolls. They won't believe you so you turn on the oven light so they can see for themselves. Then their faces are downcast for about a minute.