Recipe: Chai Spiced Slow Cooker Applesauce

Post by Olivia Martino and Paula Jahn, Registered Dietitians and Co-Owners, Nourish Northwest

This past weekend, we spent a sunny fall day out in the Hood River Fruit Loop. We had a long list of criteria we needed to meet in order to get our total fall fix. We needed U-pick apples that were pesticide free, freshly cooked brats, apple cider donuts, baby farm animals and a clear view of Mt. Hood.  We may have been a little greedy, but ask and you shall receive, for we found it all at Draper Girls Farm.  Luckily, we got there in time to still pick apples but this was the last weekend of the season and most of the apples were high in the trees.  They had a great deal on U-pick apples: 20 pounds for $20.  We filled our bucket with Jonagold, Fuji, Red Delicious and Winter Banana and hauled them back to Portland while we brainstormed ideas on what we wanted to do with them.  It turns out that twenty pounds of apples is a lot of apples, so we wanted to make something that would use up  ton of them at once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chai Spiced Slow Cooker Applesauce

Adapted from ohmyveggies.com

Makes: 9 servings. 1/2 cup each

Ingredients

12 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into large chunks

2 tsp. lemon juice

2 cinnamon stick

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

3/4 tsp. ground cardamom

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.  Heat on low for 6 hours.

2. Remove cinnamon sticks from slow cooker. For a chunkier sauce, use a slotted spoon to remove half of the apple chunks. Use an immersion blender to puree the remaining fruit and then stir in reserved fruit chunks (alternately, you can cool the mixture and puree in a blender or food processor). For a thinner sauce, do not remove any fruit before pureeing.