Homemade "Fruitsauce"

We’ve been having a bit of an on-again-off-again relationship with fruit of late, which means that we end up eating two-thirds or so of a bag of apples, pears, etc. in two days and then letting the rest die in the back of the fridge.  To combat this, I whipped out my old baby food making tricks.  Once the fruit is “sauced,” I freeze it in half-cup portions which I use to replace the sugar and oil in baking.  Here I used a blend of apples and pears (hence why it's "fruitsauce" instead of applesauce), because that’s what I had spoiling, but feel free to use whatever you have lying around.  As always, the simple version of the directions is first, and the more descriptive version with pictures comes after. 

Ingredients:

• 6 Fruit (I used 1 apple and 5 pears)
• ½ t Salt
• 1 t Cinnamon
• Water

Steps:

1. Peel and cube fruit.
2. Put cubes, salt, and cinnamon, in a pot and add water up to about 2/3 level of fruit, cover and bring to a boil.
3. Boil for about 2 minutes covered, remove lid, stir, and allow to boil uncovered until fruit is very soft and most of the water has boiled away, stirring every few minutes.
1. If most of your water has boiled away before your fruit gets soft, add more water.  Don’t worry if your fruit is soft but there’s still a ton of water, it’s not going to hurt it to cook longer.
4. Once most of the water has evaporated and fruit is very soft, take your pot off the heat and give it a good stir.  Your fruit should sort of be falling apart as you stir.
5. Once it’s cooled, blend to desired consistency.

In-depth Steps:

Put cubes, salt, and cinnamon, in a pot and add water up to about 2/3 level of fruit, cover and bring to a boil.  I cooked the apple cubes first, then added the pear, because the apple was firmer; use your best judgment on this one. But don’t worry, it’s hard to mess this up.

Boil for about 2 minutes covered, remove lid, stir, and allow to boil uncovered until fruit is very soft and most of the water has boiled away, stirring every few minutes.  If most of your water has boiled away before your fruit gets soft, add more water.  Don’t worry if your fruit is soft but there’s still a ton of water, it’s not going to hurt it to cook longer.

Once most (but not all) of the water has evaporated and the fruit is very soft, take your pot off the heat and give it a good stir.  Your fruit should sort of be falling apart as you stir.

Once it’s cooled, blend (I use an immersion blender, but a normal blender, or even a wooden spoon and a strong arm, works fine).  I divide it into ½ cup servings and freeze to use in baking, but you could just eat it, that’s cool too!  Note, this system will work with a bunch of different fruits and vegetables, you can use it to make your own baby food or add it to soups, tomato sauce, etc. to sneak additional servings of vegetables into your food.

Enjoy!  Please feel free to share your serving suggestions, ideas, and comments below! I'd love to hear from you!