Cranberry Applesauce - Slow Cooker Perfection

Cranberry applesauce is a delicious sweet and tangy treat that makes the perfect dessert, snack, or even topping. It has all the great flavors of applesauce and cranberries all in one dish that is truly the flavor of fall and the holidays.

I love to make homemade applesauce. I've been doing it for years. You just can't beat the flavor of homemade applesauce. It's nothing like storebought applesauce. It's so, so much better.

It's a great dish to make because you can dress it up with all kinds of flavors, from cinnamon to nutmeg, or in this case, cranberries!

I started making applesauce several years ago when my son was a baby. I loved to cook, and baby food was ridiculously expensive, so I just started making my own baby food. I mean all of it from pureed peas to beef. If you could get it in the store, I made it.

One of the things I made for him that he loved as a baby - and still does today - is applesauce. It's naturally sweet, so it was easy to get him to eat it as a baby. As he got older, he continued to request applesauce. I'm a big fan of it, too, so I was happy to oblige.

I bake with applesauce from time to time, as well, so that was a big bonus, too.

I used to make a recipe that you cooked on the stovetop, and while it was delicious, you had to watch it like a hawk to make sure it didn't burn. All the cooking down of the apples left plenty of room for accidental scorching.

That's when I decided to ditch the pan and opt for the slow cooker instead, and I never looked back.

Over the years, I've made all kinds of apple sauce. I'll make variations based on the season, which is a lot of fun. My favorite one to make has to be this simple slow cooker cranberry applesauce.

It's super easy to make, it's the perfect treat for the fall and winter months, and the flavors of apple and cranberry are just so classic holiday season. My family and friends love it, and I know you will, too.

That's why I'm so excited to share it with all of you today.

The Story of Cranberries and Applesauce

As you might have noticed in my recent posts, I've been bitten by the food history bug, and I love to share that interesting information with my readers. It's so interesting to me to learn about where my favorite foods come from, and I think it's worth taking a look at them.

So before we get into making this cranberry applesauce, I want to look at both the history of applesauce and why we associate cranberries with the holidays.

History of Applesauce

Applesauce as we know it is said to have originated sometime in the mid-1700s, however, the practice of preparing sauces with apples dates all the way back to medieval Europe.

Applesauce was an inexpensive and easy way to preserve apples for several months at a time, making it easier to have food to eat during the winter or a drought. Hundreds of years ago, applesauce wasn't just a snack, it was often completed by adding meat.

Many people cooked apples down into sauce with fatty meats so the sweetness of the apples could balance out the fat of the meat.

What we know today as applesauce began with German immigrants like the Moravians and the Pennsylvania Dutch who brought recipes for apple butter with them when they settled the new world. As they settled and made these recipes, other settlers were able to try them, and their popularity spread.

Over the years, these butters evolved into what we now think of when we think of applesauce. Interestingly, the Appalachian region of the USA and Southern Pennsylvania are traditionally associated with applesauce due to the large concentration of Germanic immigrants who settled in those areas.

Cranberries and the Holidays

Cranberries are such a versatile berry, you would think that they'd be used year-round, however, they really only see widespread use around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Have you ever wondered why? Well, it's an interesting story.

Long before the first pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Native Americans used cranberries, a native berry, for food and as medicine. Some tribes even associated them with holy traditions.

In fact, cranberries were part of the first Thanksgiving meal, although they weren't sweetened the way they are in most dishes today. Back then, sugar had not become a crop, so the berries were eaten in their natural, super tart stated.

It's believed that the driving factor in their association with the holidays is because they were served at the first Thanksgiving and because they come into season as that time of year draws closer.

As cranberries have been consumed long before refrigeration and other such modern food storage innovations, cranberries would have only been readily available as the holiday season drew closer.

Here's a fun fact about cranberries. While they DO grow in bogs, they do not grow in bodies of water. Those photos we see of cranberries floating in the water are actually how they're harvested.

Ocean Spray actually invented a method of harvesting cranberries quickly and easily that involves flooding the bog in which the cranberries grow and then using a sort of specialized vacuum tube to suck the berries out of it. Pretty neat!

Slow Cooker Cranberry Applesauce

This slow cooker cranberry sauce is not only easy, but it just screams fall and the holidays. Delicious apples, cranberries, and orange zest are combined and cooked down into a sweet and tangy applesauce that's perfect for snacking, using in recipes, or even as a tasty side at your next holiday meal.

The possibilities are endless with this recipe, and because it's so incredibly simple, you can make it any time the mood strikes! Even the color of this apple sauce is perfect for the winter months and the holiday season!

Ingredients

It only takes a few ingredients to make this delicious cranberry applesauce. With just five total ingredients, it's so easy to gather up everything you need. Just hit the produce section and the baking aisle, and you're ready to make this delicious recipe. Here's what you'll need.

• 6 apples (I used Gala)
• 1 12-ounce bag frozen or fresh cranberries
• ½ cup brown sugar
• Zest and juice from ½ small orange
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon.

See? It doesn't get much easier than that! It's really just a handful of ingredients, and you're on your way!

Making Cranberry Applesauce

If you think the ingredient list is easy, just wait until you get a peek at the recipe. It only takes a few minutes of peeling and slicing the apples and zesting and juicing the orange. That's all the "heavy lifting" you'll have to do in this recipe.

The rest is simply adding all the ingredients into the slow cooker and walking away for about four hours. That's all there is to it! Take a look at the recipe overview below, and you'll immediately see that this recipe is super duper easy.

• Peel and chop the apples into quarters. Add them to the crockpot.
• Add the cranberries, brown sugar, zest and juice of ½ of the orange, and cinnamon to the crockpot.
• Mix the ingredients gently. Cover the crockpot with the lid and cook on high for 4 hours.
• Once the timer goes off, turn off the crockpot and let the contents cool for about 5 minutes.
• With a small cup, remove the excess liquid from the crockpot and discard.
• With an immersion blender, blend the applesauce until it is smooth or until desired consistency is achieved.

Tip: If you don't have an immersion blender, don't worry! You can use a regular blender or food processor.

That's all there is to it! I'm sure you'll agree that it's one of the simplest recipes you'll find. It really is a snap, but the flavors taste like you slaved over it!

Serving and Using Cranberry Applesauce

This delicious slow cooker cranberry sauce is the perfect snack, dip, side, or ingredient! It's just about the most versatile thing you'll ever make. Its sweet and tangy flavor is perfect for a simple snack.

You can also use it in recipes in the same way that you would use regular applesauce. Give your bread a kick of cranberry goodness with this applesauce. Use it in dips. Whatever! I've actually used this in place of cranberry sauce, and it worked swimmingly.

From eating it straight out of a bowl to cooking with it, you can do almost anything with this easy cranberry applesauce.

Storing Cranberry Applesauce

This cranberry applesauce will keep well in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for between seven and ten days. For longer storage, you can can it using a pressure cooker. It will last like that for at least a year.

You can also freeze it for up to a few months in an air-tight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bag.

Try this Cranberry Applesauce Today

And when I say today, I mean you can make it right now. It's so easy, you can make it any time you feel like it. It only takes a few minutes of prep and a few hours in the slow cooker, and you'll have delicious, sweet and tart cranberry applesauce that tastes amazing on its own or in your favorite dishes in which you'd normally use applesauce.

It's always a big hit with my family and friends, and I know it will be with yours, too. Give it a try!