Oatmeal Raisin Applesauce Cookies

Maybe it’s the cold weather, or perhaps the fact that because of my lack of employment I am home all the time, or maybe it’s pastry withdrawal since I don’t get them free from work anymore, but whatever the reason I’ve been on a baking kick lately.

I am really not a cookie person, I don’t generally make them or eat them but at this time of year there is something very appealing about them. Plus they make the perfect snack to bring to a party. So for a recent get together I made a batch of oatmeal raisin applesauce cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookie book. This is the first recipe I have tried from that book but generally I find her recipes to be well tested and very reliable. This one was no exception.

The addition of applesauce to a traditional oatmeal raisin cookie allows you to cut down on the butter without sacrificing any of the moisture. (Plus I got a chance to use our homemade applesauce!) My only addition was a little bit of cinnamon to the batter (because I like my oatmeal raisin cookies spiced). I even followed her recipe for the frosting; it is just water, confectioner’s sugar and maple syrup.

The cookies were fabulously moist and chewy (I’m not a fan of dry cookies) and they were quickly devoured. I don’t think I will even consider making oatmeal raisin cookies without applesauce again.

Since my copy of this book is a loaner from the library I will have to test a few more recipes before I decide if it’s useful enough to own so keep you eyes out for those too!

P.S. Happy New Year!

Latkes

Although I will return to the homemade gift themed posts I'd like to take a break to tell you about the extent of our Hanukkah celebration.

We always light candles on the first night, and usually the second, and occasionally we make it to the third night before we forget completely. This year we didn't even make it to the third night but we did make latkes!

So why as such bad followers of tradition do we feel compelled to still make latkes every year? Because they are ridiculously good that's why. Actually I'm not sure why we don't make them more often. (That's a lie, it's because they are fried and mom only lets us make fried foods on rare occasions.)

We use the Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook for our recipe. For our potatoes this year we tried russets and they worked fabulously. The latkes were crispy on the outside but still mushy on the inside (you want a little of that) and the potatoes were dry enough that the strips of shredded potato held up and didn't become one amorphous glob of potato and egg. And although you can grate the potatoes by hand if that is your only option a food processor makes it much easier.


We served our latkes with our own take on the traditional accompaniments of sour cream and apple sauce. In past years this has meant Mott's and sour cream for me and dad but not mom (lactose intolerance).

This year we did much better: we used our homemade applesauce in place of Mott's. As a substitute for sour cream we used mom's homemade yogurt (made with lactose free milk so she can eat it). If you haven't had much experience with plain unsweetened yogurt it might sound like an odd substitute for sour cream but it really works.


Keep an eye out for future posts where I will explain how we make yogurt and its many other varied uses.

Applesauce: A Tale in Two Parts

The full array of apples grown locally are just showing up at the farmer's markets (well maybe not just...but only within the last couple weeks) so its the perfect time for apple preserving. Although we had many things in mind like apple pie filling (for which we couldn't find the required cooking starch) and brandied apple rings (for which we couldn't find the right kind of apple corer) we decided to start simple with applesauce.

We bought a bag of wonderful Macouns from our favorite local orchard and then supplemented this with 20 pounds of local apples from the grocery store (99 cents a pound!). We divided this between Macintosh, Macouns and Cortlands.

Since applesauce preferences in this house vary we decided to make two batches. (I like mine unsweetened but the boyfriend likes his sweetened with lots of cinnamon.)

Part 1: We decided to do the unsweetened batch first. We cut off the blossom and stem ends of the apples (discarded these), and cut out the cores (but those went into the pot whole). We chopped up the apples and after going temporarily into lemon water (1/4 cup lemon juice to 4 cups water) they went into a big pot with a little water to simmer. We decided to leave the skins on since they weren’t waxed and mom is convinced this is where all the nice color resides and possibly some of the nutrients. (I can attest to the color but not the nutritional value of the skins.
Our first big mistake was trying to simmer an entire batches worth of apples at one time. There were too many to practically be stirred and we ended up burning the ones on the bottom (just like with our tomatoes!). We ended up cooking the apples in much smaller batches and putting them through the ricer as we went.

Our second big mistake: using Cortlands. While all the other apples got soft enough to squish fairly quickly the Cortlands were amazing in their ability to stay rock hard after much simmering.

Our third mistake was thinking we could leave it completely unsweetened. Between the tartness of the apples we chose and the lemon juice which is required for canning it was just too tart so we ended up adding a little sugar.

Our fourth mistake (this is a lot for one project isn’t it?) was not leaving enough headspace. Even though we followed the instructions it wasn’t enough and I think some of the applesauce escaped the ring during the processing because the outside of the jars were sticky. Luckily they all appeared to seal fine.

Part two: With all the lessons in mind from our first batch we were much more successful our second time around. We left out the Cortlands all together but don’t worry, they didn’t go to waste, they went into apple crumble which is a much better use for such structurally sound apples.

We also cooked and squished the apples in much smaller batches to avoid burning. I also suspect that the skins sticking to the bottom might have increased the likelihood that they would burn so this time we peeled them off. But we didn’t throw away the peels. Instead we simmered them in a second pot with some water to extract the color.

Once all the apples were cooked and squished we added the water from cooking the skins which gave it a nice pink color. We also added the lemon juice, sugar and lots of cinnamon. I also left more headspace in the jars this time (although I’m not sure it was enough).

(Batch 1)

(Batch 2, which doesn't look as good but don't let the camera fool you, it really is better.)

Luckily this is a learning experience and not something we will be depending on this winter for all our food (I’m not sure how long we’d last on jams and pickles). So my applesauce wisdom is this: careful with which varieties you use, make sure they have similar cooking times and make sure they don’t burn!