The Girl Pie Chunky Apple Sauce with Garam Masala and Maple Syrup Recipe

When people set back their clocks in the fall, they often use the additional 60 minutes to sleep in.

Not me. When time “falls back” at Copywriters’ Kitchen, I sneak in an extra hour of work. I have to. It’s the only “free” time I have to write these blog posts.

The digital ball and chain: It’s a blog’s life.

Two years ago, before I started to blog, I made a deal with myself. I knew creating blog content took huge amounts of time. And I knew meeting copywriting deadlines, managing my business and caring for my family took every hour of my day—and often time at night.

So I made a compromise: I promised during business hours I’d focus 100% on client work. And I’d scrupulously discipline myself to do the “blog thing” only after business hours. And before. And on weekends.

What fun.

I know what you’re thinking. Where’s the apple sauce recipe? Stick with me, it’s coming.

My squeezed schedule forces me to give up a number of time-consuming activities I like very much: Cooking complicated recipes. Entertaining lavishly.

But you know what I miss most? Reading.

Yes, I read tweets, blogs, news, magazine articles and business books.

In search of lost (free) time

I don’t read for pleasure anymore. Not like the good old days when I regularly lost myself in great, sprawling works of fiction. Like a lot of copywriters, I read voraciously as a kid—five thick books a week in my teens! I loved dense, 19th century literature with narratives that let me escape to other times and places.

Frequently one of those places was the March garret described in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. There, our heroine, Jo, holed up for hours “eating apples and crying over the `Heir of Redclyffe,’ wrapped up in a comforter on an old three-legged sofa…”

I always think of Jo when I buy—all right, I admit I overbuy—heirloom apples in the fall. No matter how many apples I eat, more remain. They wrinkle and spot. If you read my apple butter post, you know how guilty I feel about wasted fruit.

So in addition to making pots of apple butter, these days I’m also turning the sorry Gala and Northern Spies into applesauce.

@TheGirlPie inspiration

I wish I could tell you I came up with the brilliant idea of mixing garam masala into applesauce. But I didn’t. The concept came from my Twitter friend, @TheGirlPie.

Like so many in my Twitter community, @TheGirl Pie is a delightful mystery to me. We’ve never met, yet I feel I know her: I know she’s thoughtful, funny and wise in digital arcana. @TheGirl Pie is also a writer.

But unlike me, I get the feeling @TheGirlPie finds time to read. Maybe while dipping into a bowl of applesauce.

Buy WHOLE Garam Masala. Stat.

Now, about this super-easy recipe. Finally. If possible, try to get to an Indian grocery store and buy a little bag of whole-spice garam masala for this recipe. You’ll swoon when you inhale the aromatic blend of freshly crushed cinnamon bark, peppercorns, cumin seeds, cloves and other whole spices. The mix of whole spices is simply not comparable to powdery versions.





Don’t worry that you won’t use the entire bag of spices. You will. I guarantee whole garam masala will quickly become one of your most relied-upon spices.

Grind it fresh, in small quantities, when you’re ready to cook with it. A coffee grinder works perfectly for this task. Just be sure to wipe out the grinder so you don’t wind up with clove-flavored coffee.

Proportions for The Girl Pie Chunky Apple Sauce with Garam Masala and Maple Syrup are infinitely adjustable. So you can whip up a bowl whether you have one large apple or—like me—a spotty bushel.

The Girl Pie Chunky Apple Sauce with Garam Masala and Maple Syrup Recipe

Apples
Maple Syrup
Whole spice garam masala
Kosher salt

1. Peel, core, roughly chop and measure apples.
2. Dump chopped apples into a Dutch oven or large heavy pot.
3. For every 2 cups of chopped apple, add ¼ cup water, 2-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup, ¼ teaspoon garam masala and a pinch of salt.
4. Cover pot and bring water to a boil. Lower flame and let apples simmer until soft—about 15-25 minutes depending on apples’ firmness.
5. Turn off flame. Using a potato masher, whisk or fork, mash apples to the consistency you want.

2 cups cooked apples makes 4 servings.

Photograph of woman reading courtesy of Yves.
Photograph of Little Women courtesy of Apocoknits