Microwave Apple-Pear Sauce

My son called from yeshiva to make sure I would be serving latkes and applesauce when he comes home tomorrow. Homemade applesauce is easy to make, especially if you can find someone to peel the apples. My husband bought apples with brown spots in the shuk just for that purpose, and they waited in the fridge for a victim available child. A, my 11yo, peeled all 14 apples in two sittings.

An addition of a few ripe pears will keep people guessing; I didn’t use any this time. We did use a gadget that cores and cuts the fruit into eight slices simultaneously. Put the slices in a bowl of (diluted) lemon juice to keep the apples from turning brown, in case you get interrupted or your peeling staff is slow.

Pour out the lemon juice and put the slices into a microwave-proof bowl; slices don’t have to be even. The bowl should be big enough so that the juice doesn’t boil over, even though this isn’t generally a problem with apples (but could be with pears). Cook them on high for about a minute per apple, stirring every few minutes until the fruit is soft.

Run the fruit through a food processor, but not too much; I like the sauce to have some texture. You could also mash it with a fork. Add cinnamon and lemon juice to taste. We don’t add sugar. The sauce freezes well, but I prefer to keep it for up to a week in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a latke recipe, I use the same batter as for potato kugel.

Enjoy and happy Chanukah.

Comments

  1. Yum, Yum. I didn’t buy apple sauce when I saw the price in the supermarket (I’m the only one in my house who eats it, and only on Chanukah with my latke), but I am going to whip me up a batch of your recipe.
    Question: How do you do do a crossout (like you did for the word “victim”?) They are always so amusing, but I just can’t figure out how to do it, and I know its probably really simple…thanks, and enjoy your Chanuka!

  2. I made applesauce in a totally different way but with similarly yummy results. I didn’t peel the apples at all, because I like the velvety texture of the peel once it cooks down. Similarly, I don’t fully peel all of the apples for apple kigel when I make it.
    For the sauce, I just roughly chopped the apples, peel on, and put about 12-13 of them in a soup pot with about 1-2 cups of water. For a more interesting flavor, I like to use several types of apples mixed together. Pears are great too, I didn’t have any this time, but I like to use them for compote.
    I let the apples cook on a medium/low flame until they were soft enough to mash up with a fork or two, and that’s it. Sugar wasn’t necessary, and my husband doesn’t like cinnamon (though it’s growing on him a bit). It definitely made the latkes a little extra special.
    I like the sound of the microwave method, and I’ll have to try that too . .

  3. I love that slicer thing that cuts them into 8 sliced and removes the core. My kids think that possession of that thing is a sign of being Jewish. They’ve been known to refer to it as the “Rosh Hashanah chopper.”
    I’m one of those strange folks who doesn’t like apple sauce with my latkes. No debate here, though because I don’t like sour cream with them either. I like them plain. I’m bizarre, I know, but I deal. 🙂

  4. Da Wife made me latkes, added some apple sauce but also had some chumus on that too. Am I strange?

  5. Next year I’m trying your microwave applesauce. But this year, the grocery store paid me to buy applesauce. So, I picked up two on triple coupons.
    But this year i’m doing the sugar sauce in the microwave like you suggested.

  6. mominisrael says

    Baila, in HTML mode do victim Abbi is right about the canned applesauce.
    RM, if you don’t peel them, allow extra time in the microwave.
    Reiza, LOL about the coring thing. My mother had one too.
    “Am I strange?” Jacob, we knew that already! But there are people who pu humus on everything.
    SL–let me know how it goes.
    Abbi, I’ve been here too long and I didn’t figure out right away that that was Baila’s problem. . .

  7. Baila- you probably saw the expensive imported brands of apple sauce in the supermarket, in glass jars. Look over at the canned goods, and you’ll find the Israeli brands, at much more reasonable prices.

  8. mominisrael says

    RM–I added the part about mashing it with a fork–I had meant to put that in. A food processor is definitely not necessary.

  9. mominisrael says

    Whoops, that didn’t come out. Baila, go to the Edit HTML tab when you are creating a post. The strikeover tag is the letter “s” between a < and a >. To close it do the same thing, but put a slash before the s. Email me if that doesn’t make sense.

  10. Thanks, mom! It worked like a charm and now I’ll be using strikeovers all over my blog 🙂
    And I’ll look for those cans of apple sauce next time I’m at the super market.
    Happy Chanukah!

  11. I hate to peel! I make applesauce by cutting the apples in half, sometimes I core them, sometimes not, I put the apples in a pot, put it on the stove with a splash of water and cook on low till the apples are mushy. I then put them through a ricer or a food mill, which separates the cores, seed, and skin. SO EASY! Sometimes I add a pear/or two and sometimes, I add dried cherries or raisons after I have mashed the apples. I also will add some cinammon. The easiest thing ever.

  12. I LOVE applesauce and latkes! I’ve eaten enough for a small city this Hanukkah! Hanukkah sameach everyone!

  13. Sounds delicious. Though I use apples in cakes, kugels, and, of course, apple crisp, I don’t make applesauce. Apples rarely drop to the 50 cents a pound that applesauce sometimes sells for.
    So this is one of the things I don’t find economical to make myself.

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