I love making homemade applesauce. It is super easy to do in the crock pot, and you can customize it to meet your family's taste.Leave the skin on for more fiber (like I do) or remove. Add spices that you enjoy--nutmeg and allspice would be great additions to my cinnamon and cloves! And if you must, add sweetener--but no one in my family complained at all about the lack of sweetener--in fact, everyone asked for seconds!

Keep in mind that this recipe is not intended for canning. I freeze my applesauce because I'm too lazy these days to can. If you do intend to can your applesauce, you will need to add some kind of acid, such as lemon juice.

12 medium apples of at least 2 varieties (I used gala and golden delicious), cored and cut into eighths
1 cup water
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla

Place all ingredients in slowcooker. Cook on high for 4 hours. Remove and discard cinnamon stick.


When you look at the apples after cooking, they will not look like they've cooked enough, but as soon as you touch them, they will dissolve into applesauce.


If you kept the apple skins on, you will need to use a blender or food processor to cut up the skin and make a smooth texture--I used an immersion blender.


And that's all you need to do to have yummy, fresh applesauce!