I have to admit to getting really lazy over the past few years and turning to jars or ready made stuff like mint sauce and apple sauce to save time. What I forgot was in saving that time I was losing out on flavour and that sense of satisfaction from doing something for yourself. The irony is it didn't actually take that long to make either! I'd bought bramley apples to make a cake and there was some left over, we had roast pork for dinner yesterday so I decided on a whim to make some apple sauce.It's true that the 'Simple Things' in life really do make all the difference, the apple sauce I made was soooo tasty beating shop bought hands down. I made enough for 2 and there was enough to save some for eating with some sausages or pork chops later in the week.
Ingredients
- 2 Bramley Apples - About 500g in weight it prior to peeling and coring, peeled, cored and evenly chopped
- 100ml Cider - I use sweet cider but you can use any kind.
- 1 Sml Cinnamon Stick
- 30g Golden Castor Sugar - This gives in a slight toffee flavour. Plus 1 teaspoon for when cooked.
- ¼ Tsp Mixed Spice
- ¼ Tsp Lemon Juice - Optional but it does stop the apples going brown
Method:
- Once you have the desired texture stir in 1 teaspoon of golden castor sugar, more if you like a really sweet apple sauce.
- Put
the apple pieces, cider, sugar spices and lemon juice in a pan and bring the liquid to the boil. Once at boiling turn down the heat, but a lid on the pan and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes remove the lid from the pan and allow to simmer stirring occasionally to allow the liquid to evaporate. By this time the apple sauce should be the consistency of the photo above, it doesn't matter if there are a few chunky bits left, they will be soft, if you want an overall smooth sauce then use a potato masher to further break down the apple pieces. I like a bit of texture. Make sure you remove the cinnamon stick before serving.
- Allow to cool before storing,
or serving.
