Breakfast Archives · Page 4 of 7 · Jess in the Kitchen

Homemade Applesauce: Slow Cooker Style

Growing up, I don’t remember either of my parents making homemade applesauce. That isn’t to say they didn’t do it, but I certainly have no memory of it. It wasn’t until I was almost entirely through college that I even realized canning and preserving food was something commonplace. I didn’t start my own journey with homegrown and preserved food until late into my twenties, after my son was born.

After we purchased our home in 2009, we immediately set to work to plant a garden and get trees started for our own mini orchard. At that point, I still had no idea where my future in home preservation was headed. My in-laws are avid canners and freezers of food they produce in their garden. I don’t know if it was a push by my husband or a curiosity of mine, but I became interested. Slowly, I started by canning pickles and jams. Then tomato sauce. Then my in-laws brought me bushels of apples from their own orchard (ours are JUST starting to produce enough to preserve them. For now, we eat ours and preserve gifted apples). I became interested in making homemade applesauce. Then apple jelly and apple pie filling.

Now, I’ve learned that preserving homemade applesauce doesn’t have to look like canning it (although I like to do a little of both). It can look like freezing it, which is a little less daunting for many. And while I love a low simmer on the stove, a slow cooker does the trick and takes the pressure off of worrying if it’s going to burn. Big win, right?

So if you’re ready, I am excited to share my homemade applesauce recipe for freezing.

Your Ingredients for HOmemade AppleSauce

8-9 pounds of apples (between 27-36 apples)
2-3 cinnamon sticks (optional)
1 cup of water

Note: I never add sugar. Apples are sweet enough on their own that I don’t think you need it. If you want to add sugar, I recommend starting low, say, ½ cup. You can add it later, but you can’t unsweeten applesauce after you add it.

Directions for Slow cooker Applesauce

Gather a bowl and a 7-8 quart slow cooker. Peel, core, and slice your apples. Place the scraps in the bowl for Apple Scrap Jelly (yes, you didn’t know you were also making jelly, but here you are, getting ready to!). Set aside (or compost them if you must.)

Place the sliced apples in the slow cooker. Add cinnamon sticks and water. Set on high for 3-4 hours. Every 30 minutes or so, stir and mash a bit with a potato masher or pastry cutter to break down the apples. Cook until apples are soft.

Remove the cinnamon sticks. Now, you have a decision to make: chunky or smooth?

Chunky Applesauce? Continue to mash with the potato masher until you like the texture.

Smooth Applesauce? Hit it with an immersion blender until you get the texture you love.

Allow to cool for approximately an hour. Ladle cooled applesauce into freezer safe containers (I love these container from Arrow). Label and store in the freezer. My mom likes to ladle her applesauce into freezer bags. She likes that they lay flat in the freezer. You do you. (Yes, I know I started by saying my mom didn’t preserve food. She does now. Maybe I inspired her?)

This recipe should result in about 6 pints of applesauce.

Tools of the Trade

In my post, I talk about my immersion blender (a favorite tool of mine!), my Arrow freezer containers (a go to for apples, portioned leftovers, apple pie filling, and so much more!), and I love my Crock pot. I mean, you can’t go wrong!

Slow Cooker Applesauce

Apple season equals time for homemade applesauce! Get out the slow cooker and some freezer safe containers and get set to create!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 4

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Preserving

Servings pints

Equipment

Ingredients

8-9 pounds of apples between 27-36 apples
2-3 cinnamon sticks optional
1 cup of water

Instructions

Peel, core, and slice your apples. Place in the slow cooker.
Add cinnamon sticks and water. Set on high for 3-4 hours.
Every 30 minutes or so, stir and mash a bit with a potato masher or pastry cutter to break down the apples. Cook until apples are soft.
Remove the cinnamon sticks.
If you prefer chunky applesauce, continue to mash with the potato masher until preferred texture. If you prefer smooth applesauce, blend with an immersion blender.
Allow to cool for approximately an hour. Ladle cooled applesauce into freezer safe containers. Label and freeze.

Notes

I never add sugar. Apples are sweet enough on their own that I don’t think you need it. If you want to add sugar, I recommend starting low, say, ½ cup. You can add it later, but you can’t unsweeten applesauce after you add it.

Keyword apple and cinnamon, apples, applesauce, freezer meals, preserving

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Looking for other apple REcipes?

Here are a few of my favorites!

October 13, 2021August 17, 2025

Jess2 Comments

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Gosh, I have to tell you, fall is my favorite season. I love the change in colors. Jeans and sweatshirt weather while the sun is still shining. Brisk mornings and sort of warm afternoons. All wonderful, right? And the flavors! It’s soup season and apples are ripening. So many wonderful things, including these spiced pumpkin muffins.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I dig making a recipe a touch healthier by substituting maple syrup for regular sugar. I love homegrown ingredients, so of course this was made from pumpkin I roasted (Have you never? You must try! Get the recipe for Roasted Pumpkin here!). And the warming spices. So good in the fall, right? And I don’t know about you, but there’s something so autumn about baking fresh goodies for your friends and family on the weekends.

Okay, enough chatter, let’s get baking some delicious spiced pumpkin muffins!

Your Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or home roasted
2 eggs
2 tablespoons oil
⅓ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup oats
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup chocolate chips or nuts (optional)

Your Directions to Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, and maple syrup. Whisk until well combined. Add flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts if adding.

Spoon into greased muffin tins, approximately ⅓ cup in each, about ¾ of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until muffins spring back when touched. Allow to cool five minutes in the pan. Then remove and place on a cooling rack to finish.

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Simple and zero refined sugar, these spiced pumpkin muffins are a great recipe for a fall baking weekend!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings muffins

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree canned or home roasted
2 eggs
2 tablespoons oil
⅓ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup oats
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup chocolate chips or nuts optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or spray muffin tin with non stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, and maple syrup. Whisk until well combined.
Add flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Mix until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chips or nuts if desired.
Spoon into muffin tins, approximately ⅓ cup in each, about ¾ of the way full.
Bake at for 15-20 minutes, until muffins spring back when touched.

Keyword Breakfast, muffins, pumpkin, quick breads

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

October 7, 2021September 29, 2021

JessLeave a comment

Warm Your Soul apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Generally speaking, I am an overnight oatmeal kind of gal. I love that you can prep five servings in five minutes flat on a Sunday evening and be set for the work week. There are so many good for you ingredients in overnight oatmeal: old fashioned oats, chia seeds, honey, cinnamon, almond milk. But sometimes, a good old fashioned bowl of warm, cooked on the stove top oatmeal hits the spot, especially on the weekends. This warm your soul apple cinnamon oatmeal still has the simplicity in terms of mixing together, but is full of big flavor and is perfect as the weather gets cooler.

While I am going to give you the measurements and all the ingredients, please know that this is a great recipe to play around with. Have some blueberries laying around? Toss those in. Want to give almond extract a try instead of vanilla? Do it! Want to skip the crunch of walnuts? Hey, go for it, I won’t judge.

Here’s the low down on the ingredients to Warm Your Soul Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal!

Your Ingredients (for one serving)

¾ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or your favorite milk of choice)
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup diced apples
½ cup old fashioned oats

Your Steps to Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

In a small soup kettle, combine the almond milk, syrup, vanilla, and walnuts. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower to a simmer. Stir in the apples, oats, and cinnamon. Simmer for five minutes and serve.

Pro tip: Start the milk mixture on medium heat, go finish your bathroom routine (makeup and the like), and then add the oatmeal. By the time the rest of your breakfast is done, you’ll be done too!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Seven ingredients combine in this warm your soul apple cinnamon oatmeal perfect for cool mornings. Let's get cooking these classic flavors!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 8

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings serving

Ingredients

¾ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk or your favorite milk of choice
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup diced apples
½ cup old fashioned oats

Instructions

In a small soup kettle, combine the almond milk, syrup, vanilla, walnuts, and pinch of salt.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
Lower to a simmer. Stir in the apples, oats, and cinnamon. Simmer for five minutes and serve.

Keyword apple and cinnamon, apples, Breakfast, dairy free, Gluten Free, oatmeal

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Looking for other great breakfast inspiration?

You can definitely check out my breakfast page, or maybe one of the recipes below will tickle your fancy!

September 25, 2021August 17, 2025

JessLeave a comment

Gooseberry Jam

My journey to gooseberry jam has been an interesting one with more than one road traveled. The beginning of the story starts at the farmer’s market. Initially, I had tried a berry and loved it. I left, forgetting what it was that I had tried, and decided it was gooseberries and had to plant some.

Well, they grew fruit and they were not the fruit I remembered from the farmer’s market trip. But I still enjoyed them. Around the same time, I became fascinated by foraging and the idea of finding the edibles of the woods. And would you know it, wild gooseberries became on my radar. Friends, they are everywhere! I find them in our woods, on the side of the road, and in so many state parks. If you are a midwesterner like myself, check your woods. I bet you have some too! Here’s a great link to get an idea of what you’re looking for. I became enamored with the berries in my yard and all around me. I wanted to share them with everyone!

Currently, I have four bushes (some red, some green) that I tend to. And boy, do they produce. We snack on them, but I have also taken to canning these sweet-tart berries into three ingredient jam. It can’t get much better than that, can it? (See what I did there? I am punny!) Ready? Let’s get gooseberry jam creating!

Your Ingredients for Gooseberry Jam

Per ½ pint jar (jelly jar), you will need:

1 cup of gooseberries, cleaned
½ cup sugar
½ tablespoon lemon juice

The Prep Work

Fill the canning kettle with enough water that the jars will be covered by at least 2 inches of water. More is better in this case so over estimate. Begin to heat over high heat. Place the canning rack so that it is hooked over the side of the canner and put clean jars on it to keep them warm. Note: You don’t have to keep the jars in the rack, although it is helpful to keep them warm. You want the jars warm to prevent breaking when they are being filled.

Set the clean rings aside. I like to simmer my lids on low low heat in a small saucepan. Not necessary, but I like to think it helps them seal better.

If you have not already done so, clean 1 cup of gooseberries for every ½ pint jar of jam you intend on canning. To clean, you need to remove both the stem and the flower portion of the berry. See the picture below.

The Gooseberry Jam Making

In a large, preferably shallow, kettle, smash the gooseberries with a potato masher. Then, for every cup of berries, stir in ½ cup sugar and a ½ tablespoon lemon juice. Begin to heat over medium-high heat, stirring often. I like to smash the berries more as they are cooking down.

Your end goal is to reach the gelling point. There are lots of tests for this, but I prefer the temperature test. If you are at sea level, the gelling point is at 220 degrees. For every 1000 feet of elevation, you subtract 2 degrees. For me, the gelling point is 218 degrees. Don’t have a decent food thermometer? Check out the National Center for Home Preservation website for other ways of testing for the gelling point.

It takes longer to reach the gelling point than I think it should. It also goes from needing 3 degrees to reaching the gelling point fast. You can get complacent while you are waiting and suddenly hit the temperature, so I am trying to warn you 🙂

The Canning

Once the jam has reached the gelling point, remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars, leaving ½ inch head space. Wipe rims of the jars with a damp cloth, add lids and rings, tightening to fingertip tight. Place in the canner, increasing the heat to high. Once the canner reaches a boil, process for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow jars to cool in the canner over 5 minutes. Remove from canner, placing on the counter. Listen for the ping of the lids over the next 12 hours. Sealed jars are self stable. If any jar doesn’t seal, simply place it right in the refrigerator.

Note: You can skip the processing step all together if you feel more comfortable. If you do so, the jam will need to be stored in the refrigerator. The process of water bath canning creates a self-stable jam. That is, a jam that can be stored on the shelf.