Chai-Spiced Applesauce

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the grocery store was selling chai-spiced apple cider and I thought "I bet I could make a chai-spiced applesauce that is pretty good." I used the following recipe to make two batches of sauce - for one, I cored the apples but left the skins on and did not mash the apples after cooking (making the dish more like baked apples than a true sauce), for the other I skinned the apples and mashed them into a sauce. Both versions came out pretty tasty, so choose the preparation that sounds better to you. As with any applesauce recipe, it is pretty easy to scale up and down on the ingredients depending on the amount of apples you happen to have on hand and on your own taste.

Chai-Spiced Applesauce

4-6 lbs. apples

1 c. water or apple juice

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 stick cinnamon

1-2 tsp. ground cardamom or 3-4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed

1 tsp. whole or ground cloves

1-2 tsp. ground ginger or 1 T. fresh ginger

1 star anise cluster

1. Core, peel (if desired), and dice apples and place in a large stock pot with water (or apple juice), brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, and star anise. Cover and simmer over medium heat until apples are soft (~30 minutes), stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer for another 10-15 minutes to reduce liquid.

2. Remove cinnamon stick and star anise cluster (and caradmom pods and whole cloves, if used). Mash with a potato masher (if desired).