Name: Dessert-Worthy Applesauce with Brown Sugar and Rum
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: US & Canada
Ingredients: 3 pounds McIntosh apples , peeled and cored, peels and cores reserved; 1½ cups water; ¼ cup packed brown sugar , plus extra to taste; ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg; Pinch ground allspice; Pinch salt; 2 tablespoons gold rum

Why This Recipe Works

Fresh applesauce requires just a few small tweaks to transform it from a lunchbox favorite to an indulgent dessert. To make ours without a food mill, which not all home cooks own, we peeled and cored our apples and then cooked the peels and cores with a cup of water, mashing them occasionally to coax out their flavors and pigments. We then cooked the quartered apples in a separate saucepan with a small amount of water and brown sugar and a bit of nutmeg, allspice, and salt. We mashed the cooked apples, strained the pulpy peel-and-core mixture over the mashed apple mixture, and stirred it all together with a shot of rum for a grown-up version of applesauce that's especially good served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Before You Begin

We like the tart flavor of McIntosh apples in this recipe, but Jonagold and Pink Lady apples are good, too. Nearly any variety of apple can be substituted, except for Red or Golden Delicious. You may mash this applesauce until it's smooth or leave it chunky for a more rustic effect. Serve this sauce warm with vanilla ice cream.

Instructions

Bring reserved peels and cores and 1 cup water to boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, mashing occasionally with potato masher, until mixture is deep pink and cores have broken down, about 15 minutes.

While peels and cores cook, cut apples into quarters and place in large saucepan. Add sugar, nutmeg, allspice, salt, and remaining ½ cup water and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally with rubber spatula, until all apples are soft and about half are completely broken down, about 15 minutes. Using potato masher, mash apples to desired consistency.

Transfer peel-and-core mixture to fine-mesh strainer set over saucepan of mashed apple mixture. Using rubber spatula, stir and press peel-and-core mixture to extract pulp; discard solids. Stir in rum. Sweeten with extra sugar to taste. Serve. (Applesauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.)