The thing I love about a delicious homemade applesauce is that it is so versatile. Having pork chops for dinner? It makes a great side dish. Making German style, red cabbage? Throw it in as an ingredient. Trying your hand at low-fat baking? Substitute some applesauce for the oil. Need a quick and easy dessert? Heat up some applesauce in the microwave, and top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You get the idea! 
Baked Applesauce
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs granny smith apples
- 3 lbs gala apples
- 2 navel oranges, zested and juiced (I also use the pulp)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon all-spice
- 1/4 cup Splenda blend brown sugar (or 1/2 cup brown sugar)
- 2 tablespoons butter
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the juice, zest and if desired the pulp of the oranges into a large bowl.
- Peel, quarter and core the apples, toss them with the orange juice.
- Pour apples and juice into an enamel iron pot or a dutch oven.
- Add the cinnamon, all-spice, and brown sugar to the apples.
- Scatter the butter in small bits over the apples.
- Cover and bake for 90 minutes.
- Remove from oven and use a potato masher or even a whisk to make the applesauce a smooth or as chunky as you like.
This comes out to roughly 2 quarts of applesauce.
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