First-time applesauce!

Hello! I've been away for a few days in Letchworth State park, enjoying the Fall splendor (in between the frequent bursts of lake-effect rain storms)...photos to come!

Last night,  decided those apples couldn't wait any longer. Time for an adventure: applesauce!

While the task read easy in most recipes, I'm always still a little nervous in making such a mass quantity of something I've never made before. What if it tastes bad? What if I over cook it? I hate wasting food...I try to cook a portion that is reasonable for us to manage to eat.

How could you waste such a beautiful fruit?!?

I looked over a few varations of recipes and decided to wing it. Without further ado, my first attempt at applesauce:

Alyssa's homestyle applesauce

You'll need:

5 Red delicious apples

5 Crispin apples

2 T maple syrup flavored agave (or you could use regular maple syrup)

2 t lemon juice

1 t cinammon

1/2 t gound cloves

To make:

1. Core all apples and chop into chunks. I opted to keep the skins on for added nutrition and to keep some heartiness (i.e., chunks).

2. Put all apple chunks into crock pot along with all the ingredients above. Stir all the way through.

3. Set crock pot to HIGH and let cook for 3 hours.

4. After 3 hours, turn off heat and mash apples (in pot) with a potato masher.

5. Stir and let sit in crock pot for another hour with heat off to let spices really set in.

The result is a hearty, sweet and spicy applesauce. I was pleased with my first attempt.

Do you get  nervous when making huge batches of a new recipe?

How do you prefer your apple sauce: chunky or smooth?