Before coming back from our weekend away, I had to take advantage of the apple picking available!
We went to Windy Hill Farm which had a decent selection of apples to choose from. I was really excited to see they had my favorite variety ready to go.
Besides the beloved Honey Crisp, we got a selection of Cortlands, Paula Reds and Macintosh. Macintosh apples remind me of being a kid. My family used to go to Lambertville and New Hope every fall to pick pumpkins, buy apples and run around the scarecrow maze. We always loaded up on the Macintosh apples.
This was my first time actually picking the apples from trees. They gave us a map and had very clear signs that made it easy to navigate through all the apple trees. Other than the bug bites all over my feet (note to self: don’t wear flip flops to go apple picking on a warm day), it was so much fun. I would have taken home bushels and bushels of apples if I could have.
We went with 1/2 bushel, maybe 7 pounds of apples?
Check out this slideshow to to see Matt’s favorite part of the apple picking!
I’ve never had a Paula Red before, but when the woman at the farm said they make great sauce our ears perked up. I like jarred applesauce in small doses, but there really is nothing like homemade applesauce.
Monday night as soon as we got home, Matt got to cooking! With a little bit of my input, he basically made the applesauce himself. Let me tell you, it was amazing! I tried to save some to take photos in daylight but the applesauce was too good. We finished the whole batch for dessert. Oh and yes, this happened to be Matt’s birthday dessert… what kind of baking blogger am I?
Seriously, homemade applesauce with vanilla frozen yogurt was the perfect end to the weekend! You know, since I hadn’t had quite enough dessert yet.
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The Best Homemade Applesauce
Yield: Makes ~2 cups of applesauce, serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 7 medium apples, peeled and chopped (we used a combination of Paula Reds and Macintosh)
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- the juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup water
Cooking Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a large pot
- Cover pot and let cook over low heat for 10 minutes
- Remove cover and stir
- Allow mixture to simmer over low heat for additional 10-15 minutes stirring on occasion
- Remove from heat when sauce has reached desired consistency (for a more chunky sauce cook for less time)
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Adapted from Heather’s Dish
What apples would you pick? Monica at the Yummy Life has a great list of apples that tells you what kinds are best for eating, cooking and baking.
