Crock Pot Applesauce

The last week of September is when many classrooms around the United States remember an American Legend by the name of Johnny Appleseed.  My class was no exception.  We spent the week of his birthday learning about the tall tale genre and the real person, John Chapman, from which the Johnny Appleseed story originated.  To conclude our unit of study my students enjoyed some rather tasty crock pot applesauce that we had prepared together earlier in the morning.  To find a recipe that would please even the pickiest of critics (second graders) I did some online research and eventually, after borrowing a couple of ideas from here and there, came up with one that was just right! 

Here's my simple and delicious recipe for homemade applesauce:

First, peel and core 12 large gala apples.  We used an old fashion apple peeler that my teaching partner brought in from home and demonstrated how to use with the help of all our eager students.  I'm looking into buying one myself.  The one below is only $28.00 from William Sonoma.

William Sonoma Peeler/Corer

Next, we sliced the peeled/cored apples into quarters and placed the pieces into a bowl with 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice and stirred together well.  Then, we added 1/4 cup of apple juice to the bottom of the crockpot, topped it with the apple mixture, covered and let it cook on high for about four hours.  In between I would occasionally peek on it and give it a stir.  The aroma of the apples cooking was delightful!  Before serving to my students I used a potato masher to break the cooked apples down into a sauce and gave it about a half hour to cool.  The sauce was still warm but not too hot and the kids loved it!