After opening with a heavy hitter, I thought I would follow that up with a classic side dish / dessert. Applesauce!! This, however is one of Alton Brown’s super fast and super easy recipes.

The Program

3 Apples – Golden Delicious; peeled, cored & quartered
3 Apples – Fuji; peeled, cored & quartered
1 cup Unfiltered Apple Juice
2 tablespoons Cognac
2 tablespoons Unsalted butter
3 tablespoons Honey
½ teaspoon Cinnamon

The Prep

The prep for this could have gone a little bit better. I went to purchase the Apples and managed to forget the non-filtered apple juice that is also required. Of course, I didn’t remember it until I had already started peeling the apples. I finished peeling and cutting the apples and put them in a big bowl covered them with water and put a plate on them to keep them under the water. I hoped this would stave off the oxidation long enough to run to the store and back. Luckily, it did.

The Process

This recipe, which comes from Alton Brown’s “Good Eats – The Early Years”, is super easy. Literally toss all the ingredients in a large bowl and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Let them cool a bit and hit them with the immersion blender until you have sauce. It really is just that easy.

The Payoff

This is very good applesauce for the time and effort involved. It is not, however my grandmother’s hand pressed cinnamon red-hot applesauce that I have eaten gallons of in my lifetime. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like, because I did and I will make it again, it’s just that… well you know… not Grandma’s. The only thing I will change next time is to double or triple the cinnamon. I’m a big cinnamon fan and while this applesauce had hints of cinnamon, I could use a little more.