Virtually every week, my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box contains apples. Sometimes two apples, sometimes four apples, sometimes six apples, but always apples, apples, apples!   I don’t enjoy eating raw apples, and I have not yet trained my husband to take one to work every day, so my crisper at times has contained upwards of 20 apples.

Last week, my apple stockpile was up to about 16 and then the weekly CSA allotment contained an additional six.  I swear I almost cried when I saw them.  The CSA lady offered to give me something else instead, but I refused because that is just not how a CSA is supposed to work.  The way of the CSA is that we’re all in this together, and you get what you get.  I’m all for that, so I had to figure out a way to manage.

That night, not to be daunted, I peeled and sliced four apples and baked the slices, in a covered dish in a 350 degree oven, with a twist of lemon juice, a swirl of maple syrup, about 1/8 teaspoon each cinnamon and nutmeg, and a tablespoon of butter.  This was not bad for a relatively healthy weeknight dessert.  I found myself thinking as I ate, “I bet if I put these through a food mill they would make excellent applesauce.  Plus, I could use another 10 apples that way!”

Soon thereafter, I determined to scour my cookbooks for applesauce recipes to find one that used baked apples instead of the traditional stovetop simmer method, because my cook’s intuition said that baking would concentrate the flavor.  Before I could crack open a book to investigate this, however, I had a fortuitous conversation with New York Barb, my college roommate, who also cooks with love on a daily basis.  I told her about my applesauce aspirations, and she slyly said, “How are you going to cook the apples – I bet you’re going to boil them, aren’t you.” “I think I should bake them,” I replied, and an enthusiastic baked applesauce tutorial ensued.

As it turns out, Barb had discovered a rather awesome Food52 recipe for applesauce with baked apples, which she then proceeded to improve with some innovations of her own. One of the things I love about Barb is that, after not speaking to her since 1996, we were able to reconnect in 2015 as if no time had passed whatsoever.  The other thing is that each of us has not only become an avid home cook, which is remarkable in its own right, but also we share a bit of an obsession with cast iron pans. So, when it turned out that her tweaks to the recipe involved using a cast iron pan, plus some adjustments to proportions and cooking time, I just had to give it a try.

I made a couple other proportion adjustments based on what I had on hand, and I must say the result was wonderful!  I used nine apples, and for two people there were no leftovers (which is a little scary, but whatever – when it’s good, it’s good).  I’ve set forth exactly what I did below, but as usual I would recommend that you peruse the original Food52 recipe and the variation below and then make your own adjustments as you see fit.

Note that both these recipes are straight up apple, with no spices aside from relatively small amounts of sugar and salt. Maybe you are of the view that it’s not applesauce without cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice, and I can certainly appreciate that.  I would encourage you, however, to try the straight up apple version first and then decide based on that what else you want to add.  You might find that, in spite of your preconceived views, plain is good.  This is what happened to me.  I was convinced that I would miss the cinnamon, but after tasting the plain version I really don’t think it needs anything else.

Baked Applesauce (with Vegan Option)

 Ingredients

• 3 to 4 pounds apples (this is the weight before peeling, coring, and slicing), which translates to 7 to 10 medium sized apples; you can use whatever variety of apple you have or like, but I recommend using two or three different varieties
• 3 tablespoons butter (1.5 to melt in the pan initially, plus 1.5 to dot on top just before baking; to make this recipe vegan, substitute Earth Balance or a comparable vegan butter substitute)
• 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste depending on the sweetness of the apples; if you have really sweet apple, maybe you can omit the sugar altogether
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Unrefined apple cider vinegar, to taste (optional; add this if, and only if, your baked product is too sweet for your taste)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees for at least 30 minutes.
2. Heat 1.5 tablespoons of butter (or Earth Balance) on low heat in a large cast iron-pan (10 to 13 inches, depending on how many apples you use).
3. While the butter melts, peel and core the apples, and then cut each quarter in half. I peel the apples with a Y-shaped peeler, cut them into quarters, remove the seed/core portion from each quarter, and then cut each quarter in half.
4. Place the sliced apples in the skillet, add the salt and sugar, and toss to coat them evenly with the butter (or Earth Balance).  Use more or less sugar depending on the tartness of your apples.  Dot the top of the apple mixture with the remaining 1.5 tablespoons of butter (or Earth Balance), cut into small pieces.
5. Cover the skillet tightly with a lid if you have one, or wrap a piece or two of aluminum foil tightly over the top and sides of the pan.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, until the apples are very tender and a substantial amount of steam is released when you remove the cover (be careful, you don’t want a steam burn!)!
7. Stir the apples, raise the heat to 500 degrees, and return the pan to the oven uncovered.  Bake at the higher temperature until most of the liquid has cooked off and the apple slices start to dry out (it’s OK if a handful of them brown slightly), about 15 to 20 minutes.
8. Turn the contents of the pan into a stainless steel or heavy ceramic bowl and mash the apples with a fork or spoon into a saucy consistency.  If the sauce is not sweet enough, then add a touch more sugar and blend thoroughly; if it’s too sweet, then add a dash or two of unrefined apple cider vinegar. (Based on my experience, it will be perfect and no adjustments will be necessary. 🙂 )
9. Serve hot, warm, or chilled. You really can’t go wrong. This is a particularly excellent accompaniment to pork, although it is perfectly divine by itself.