Applesauce in a Rice Cooker

Today, I made another batch of one of John's favorites: applesauce! He loves to eat it as a post-run recovery snack between his hour drive home from work and when dinner is ready.

This is also one of my favorite ways to use the fantastic rice cooker that my parents gave us a couple years ago.

I usually use a full bag of whatever apples are cheapest at the grocery store. (I've tried all kinds, but they all end up turning out tasting just about the same, so why not go cheap?)

John prefers it chunky and with the skins in tact, so that makes my job super easy - no peeling! 

I just cut them in half, and then cut the halves in half:

And then cut the core/seeds part off. 

Here are the cores...they just go into the trash.

Since John helped out by taking photos for me this morning (and what an awesome job he did!), here's one of me! Just keepin' it real... this is what I looked like this morning. Eek.

Once all the apple pieces are in the pot,

I put just a splash of water on top. Only about a tablespoon or two of water is needed.

Here they are!

I usually cook them plain, just like this. But this time, I added some cinnamon. I've also made them with added mango, peaches, or strawberries when they're in season.

I turn my rice cooker on the porridge setting, and press cook. I think it cooks for about 30 minutes, but honestly, I'm not really sure. It automatically turns to the "keep warm" setting when it's done. 

I'm sure this could also be done in a slow cooker, just haven't tried it. (I usually have my slow cooker working on something else at the same time as I'm doing this... today I had a whole chicken a-brewin' away.)

 Here's what they look like when they're done cooking - nice and soft.

I transfer them into a glass bowl:

And mash them up with a potato masher.

And...voila!

It's delicious both warm and cold. I've also heard homemade applesauce works great to make in bigger batches and freeze. I haven't tried that so far. 

I usually just make it on the weekend and give to John every day throughout the work week. He gets about five big servings out of it.