Spiked apple sauce

My new garden has two apple trees. My parent’s garden has two apple trees. That makes a whole bunch of apples in a good year, I can tell ya. Now, what to do with them? In the first months of autumn you’ll go for apple pies, cakes and muffins, or you’ll eat them right off the tree. By the beginning of December you just want them gone. But since throwing away perfectly delicious food is a crime that I try to avoid by any means, apple sauce is the key here. It’s easy, it’s fast and it is super-yummy. And a little rum or whisky in it, can’t hurt either. Still need some homemade Christmas presents? This is it!

Ingredients

8 Apples (duh!)
spritzer of lemon juice
50-80 brown sugar
a good pinch of cinnamon
a splosh of the booze of your choice

Peel, core and chop your apples and put them in a bigger saucepan with a good spritzer of lemon juice to keep them from browning too much. Stir with the sugar and cinnamon. Cook for about 45-60 min. over medium heat, slightly mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon until you have the consistency you prefer. Have a taste in between to decide if you need more sugar. Add your booze (whisky, rum, white wine, calvados…just to give you some ideas) over the last 15 minutes. Fill in sterilized mason jars (cook the jars and the lids in hot water for a few minutes) and let them stand on the lid for 5 minutes. Now wrap them up all nice and Christmassy and off you go to your first Christmas party this year! (Or you can have breakfast first. Some oatmeal with your apple sauce…yum!)