Easy crock pot applesauce

Yesterday, Stenni and I made some awesome crockpot applesauce with the remaining apples from our family apple-picking excursion on October 9th (which was also, incidentally, my 9th wedding anniversary. Woohoo!). We did polish off all of the apples, but don't worry: I went up to NY state and bought another 1/2 bushel today! So, more applesauce making is on the horizon for us. Anyway, I didn't know crockpot applesauce would be so easy. I usually make regular applesauce but then have to be home all day, stirring and watching and making sure I don't burn my house down. This stuff? I plopped the apples and accoutrements in the crockpot, turned it on and then stirred it like, 3 times (when I remembered). Awesome. Anyways, wanna make some? Of course you do! So here's how:

Get a fairy/farmhand helper to pick a bunch of apples. Or buy them at the store.

Then you have some apples. Like 8 or 9 should work. They don't have to come from a basket.

Peel, core, and slice them up until you have maybe 8 cups or so.

Wash a lemon really well, then take off a little of the peel with a vegetable peeler. 1 or 2 strips will do. Put that in the pot too.

Add the juice of 1/2-1 lemon. (See note at bottom on the sweet/tart continuum and personal taste.) 

Here are your other players. I added 1 T. cinnamon and about 4-5 T. agave nectar. You can use honey or brown sugar instead, or leave it as it.

Put that all up in the crockpot and mix it. Add like 1/2 a cup of water or so. Lid it up and crank it to high. Cook it for 5-6 hours or until you don't even have to mash it. You'll know when it's all good because it will look like:

THIS! SUCCESS! Super delicious success. 

Sweet/Tart Continuum and Personal Taste 

*A little note on the lemon peel, lemon juice, and sweeteners: They're all optional. I used mutsu/crispin apples, which are a little tart anyway, and then added the juice of a whole lemon and 2 strips of lemon peel. My applesauce is delicious but a little on the tart side. If you use sweeter apples, you may want to use less sweetener. If you are using tarter apples, you might use the juice of only 1/2 a lemon (or even less if you want), and/or omit the lemon peel. It's up to you, because only you know how tart you like your applesauce. Maybe you like it sweeter. So add more sweetener. Also, you don't need all that cinnamon if you don't like cinnamon. I love it, so I added a lot (hence the very dark color of the finished product). Like I said, up to you.*