Homemade Unsweetened Applesauce

I am a big fan of applesauce as an egg substitute in baking. Few days back, I came across an article which said that applesauce can be used in place of oil as well - just substitute one-for-one (1/3 for 1/3, 1/2 for 1/2, so on and so forth). I did not have any applesauce on hand (I usually buy a jar organic unsweetened applesauce from Wholefoods) and really did not want to venture out in the gloomy weather, so I thought of making my own applesauce.

I remember when I was a wee kid, my Ma used to make me her version of applesauce for me to eat as an afternoon snack. She used to boil the unpeeled and cored apples with little sugar and water and mash it  to break it down a little. Sometimes she used to add little homemade cottage cheese (chhena/chhana) to it as well. Tasted pretty darned good! 

I had 2 apples on hand (had to save the third one for the kid's afternoon snack), so put those to work! The 5 and a half year old is not a big fan of applesauce, so I made this just so that I can experiment with oil-free baking! 

The yield was about 1/2 Cup.

Ingredients:

• 2 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 1/4 Cup water (add a little more if needed - my apples were not too big)
• A fat pinch of ground cinnamon
• A quick squeeze of lemon (optional)

In a saucepan combine the apples, water and ground cinnamon and cover and cook on medium low heat till the apples become mushy - about 15-18 minutes or so. Let it cool down completely and using a fork or potato masher, pulverize the life out of the apple-mix (or just mash in a civilized manner) till you get a somewhat mealy sauce. 

If you want sweetened version, just add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and you'll be good to go!

Recipe adapted from here