Let’s make things clear – applesauce is not exclusively a type of baby food. I consider it comfort food. Maybe the reason should be found in the fact that applesauce is so easy to eat that it requires the table manners and eating skills of an infant, hence the comfort. Whatever! Applesauce is not only baby food and it’s something that I really really enjoy. Especially warm, straight out of the pot. On the spot. You make it, you eat. What a bliss.

The problem with most recipes is that they call for enormous quantities of apples and aim at a generous yield with the thought of jarring and preserving this delicious goodness for future enjoyment. But why take up so much effort when one can fairly quickly wrap up a single portion of applesauce and enjoy it freshly made in less than one hour? I mean, I understand the need to go big when you have an apple tree when it’s apple season. But if you just like eating applesauce occasionally and have two apples at a time in your house, like I do, you don’t need big quantities. Actually, you just need two apples.

Single-serving applesauce:

• 2 apples
• 60 ml water
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Peel and dice the apples and add them to a pot. Set the pot on medium heat. Add the water and the honey and give it all a good stir; I usually do it with the same spoon I added the honey with. When the honey has dissolved, cover the pot with a lid and let it cook for 5 minutes. After that add the cinnamon and stir it in, lower the heat to medium-low and let it all cook for 15 more minutes, lid on, stirring from time to time. After 15 minutes, the apples should have become soft enough to mash. Proceed if there is no water on the bottom of the pot. If the water has not been absorbed, keep cooking the apples – this time without the lid – until the water has evaporated. Then mash and serve.

I love eating it straight out of the pot, when it’s still warm. There is seriously something about warm applesauce that makes me just close my eyes and feel like a child. And no, it was not the typical food I used to eat as a child, so this is strange. Warm applesauce doesn’t bring back childhood memories, rather it creates a childhood feeling. A very strange thing to explain, but a very pleasant one.

Some recipes call for lemon juice, but I like to use gree apples because they already have a sour touch. Most recipes I browsed online use brown sugar; I choose to go with honey instead. I like how honey blends in with fruits and how it helps to enhance their fruity flavours, so honey is definitely my sweetener of choice here.