Remember earlier this year when I made a historically accurate JANE EYRE menu? Today I’m adding a historically accurate recipe to my STEWART LITTLE menu too! Although the story is set in a fictional New York and no time period is given, the book was published in the 1940s, and the clothing and speech styles of the characters give that vibe. So let’s make some 1940s food!
In the story, George sets a bowl of applesauce by a mouse hole hoping to tempt Stewart out of it. Before the 40s, applesauce was made on the stove, which works perfectly well, but the 40s brought the advent of an amazing new invention: the slow cooker! It quickly gained popularity as a way for women to work outside the home while still making a home-cooked supper. So that’s how we’ll make our applesauce today!
This recipe is based on the stove-top applesauce recipe from my latest cookbook, with a few important changes. For one, I used honey instead of brown sugar to make it healthier and increased the cinnamon and salt, since slow cookers have a habit of dulling flavors. Four hours and almost no effort later, I had delicious applesauce I could mash to my preferred consistency (which to me is the best thing about homemade applesauce, since I hate when the store bought stuff is runny). My kids went wild over it!
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1940s-Style Slow Cooker Applesauce
“George darted into the kitchen and came running back with a dish of applesauce. ‘We can pour some of this in, and it will run down to where he is.’ George spooned out a bit of the applesauce and started to poke it into the hole…”
— Stewart Little
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 1/2 lb. McIntosh apples
- 1 1/2 lb. Fuji apples
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 (1″x2″) strip lemon peel
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 oz fresh ginger, peeled
- 1/4 tsp salt
Makes 3 cups applesauce
INSTRUCTIONS:
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- Peel and core the apples. Discard the skins. Cut each into 8 pieces and place in a slow cooker with remaining ingredients. Stir until apples are well-coated. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours. At the 2-hour mark, mash with a potato masher as much as the apples will allow. Once cooked, mash to desired texture, discarding ginger, cinnamon, and lemon peel. The ginger will be the same color/shape as the apples, but should still be easy to identify because it will stay firm after cooking and won’t mash with the rest of the apples. For a very smooth texture, blend in a blender.
- Place in a sealed container and refrigerate.
- Serve outside a mouse hole to encourage your brother to come out!
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Check out my other apple recipes!
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