Cinnamon Vanilla Applesauce

In the fall, one of our local orchards here in Southern Indiana sells half-bushels of "utility" apples for a cheap price. I bought one last year and made a lot of apple butter, apple pie filling, and applesauce. This year, I bought another, looking forward to canning some yummy goodies for my husband and I to enjoy this winter. First up? Cinnamon Vanilla Applesauce. I used a 5.5 qt slow cooker for this recipe, and had it full to the brim with finely chopped apples when I started. This made 6 full pints to can plus one mostly filled pint to enjoy as a reward for all of that hard work. :) If you want to can this, use my recipe...if not, use the original version linked below.

Cinnamon Vanilla Applesauce

Adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

25-30 small and medium-sized Jonathan apples (depending on size), about 8 lbs
1/4 cup bottled lemon juice
2 tbsp vanilla extract
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar or raw cane sugar (see note below)
1 1/2 cups water

Peel & core apples, and finely chop using a food processor (working in batches). As each batch comes out of the food processor, dump it into the Crock Pot with the lemon juice and stir to prevent apples from browning. (If some browning occurs, it's okay...this is a spiced applesauce so you won't be able to tell.) Stir in vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sugar. Pour water over all. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours or high for 2 hours. Very carefully puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. (Hot liquids will expand in a regular blender so be sure you pop the top vent loose and cover it with a kitchen towel while blending.)

Processing: Ladle applesauce into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Wipe rims, place lids on top, and secure with rings. Process in waterbath canner for 20 minutes. Remove from canner and allow jars to sit undisturbed for 24 hours to cool completely. Check seals. Reprocess any unsealed jars or refrigerate and enjoy within 7 days.

You could also freeze the applesauce if you prefer not to can it. Ball makes stackable freezer jars that work perfectly for this purpose. To freeze it, just allow it to cool and ladle into freezer containers, refrigerate overnight, then freeze.

Note: There is a small amount of sugar in this recipe, which I left in because of sugar's preservative properties in canning. However, there is nothing to count in a serving. :)

Sugar Free Strawberry Jam

I love to start my mornings off with some toast or an English muffin and some jam. But I hate spending my weekly points on jam. So, I solved the problem with Ball's Low or No Sugar Added Pectin and 2 lbs of strawberries. You can use several different fruits, and depending on their sweetness you may not need anything at all. But you can also sweeten with sugar substitute if needed.

After the jam is made, you can either store it in the fridge to enjoy over the next 3 weeks, or process it in a waterbath canner to store for later. For the purpose of simplicity, I am going to post this recipe in the "single batch" that should make about 16 oz of jam. I doubled it, and canned all but one jar.

Homemade Sugar Free Strawberry Jam

2 cups hulled & crushed strawberries (about 1 lb as purchased)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp Ball Low or No Sugar Pectin
1/3 cup granulated Splenda

Crush strawberries in a single layer with a potato masher. (I put them in a large glass casserole dish for this.) Combine fruit with water in a saucepan and gradually stir in the pectin. Bring to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in Splenda and continue stirring. Return to boil and boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat and ladle into hot jar(s). Refrigerate until set. Enjoy!

It only took my refrigerated jar an hour or two to set. For the other jars, I processed them in a waterbath canner for 10 minutes. The detailed canning instructions are on the label for the pectin if you are interested in doing this.

Source: Ball Low or No Sugar Pectin package