Spiced Baked Cranberry Applesauce

Applesauce is so versatile. It can be eaten as a side dish with pork chops, dessert, used in baking cakes, anything you can think of. I can't stand the commercially mass produced applesauce like Mott's. Although it does remind me of my elementary school days, the stuff tastes bland. Lacking in flavor and texture. So, I decided to make my own.

After scouring recipes for applesauce, I found that all of them cooked the apples by way of boiling them. I am not a fan of boiling fruits or vegetables; boiling leeches all the nutrients out of them, and I like to keep the nutrients in my food. The only time I would boil veggies would be if I were making soup and would be drinking the broth after. Otherwise, I like to find other ways of cooking my fruits and veggies. 

So, the idea came to me to bake the apples instead of boiling them. And since we had some frozen cranberries lying around, I decided to throw those in too. Best. Idea. Ever. 

Baked Cranberry Applesauce

What you'll need:

• 2 apples, cored, peeled, and diced / sliced. I used Fuji apples. It doesn't matter what  kind of apples you use. Use your favorite!
• Some cranberries. Use as much or as little as you want, depending on preference. The more you use, the more tart your applesauce will be. I used about 1/2 a cup. 
• ~ 1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of cloves 
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• Optional: Honey. Apples are naturally sweet, so I didn't use any. However, if you have a real sweet tooth, go ahead and drizzle some honey on there!
• Optional: 1/2 Tbsp orange zest

Directions:

1. Toss the diced / sliced apples and the cranberries into a nonstick baking pan or line a baking pan with parchment paper. 
2. Sprinkle the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves over the mixture, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and drizzle the honey if you choose to, as well as the orange zest. Mix it all up. 
3. Cover with foil, and bake at 360F for 45 minutes or until you can easily mash them with a fork.
4. After they're done baking, take them out and get to mashing! Mash them with a fork until you get your desired texture. I like my applesauce on the chunky side. Alternatively, you can puree it in a blender / food processor / Magic Bullet if you like your applesauce smooth.
5. You can eat it warm, or chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Keeps up to 5 days.