Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann's The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook offers 250 timesaving, convenient, and healthy recipes for making everything from simple white rice to full-course meals. This cookbook proves the rice cooker--which tends to have a bad rap as a never-opened or oft-neglected wedding gift--can be surprisingly versatile
Who doesn't love homemade applesauce? Canned just doesn't come close. The Porridge cycle on the rice cooker makes great fruit sauce. We love our applesauce with lots of cinnamon. You can add the sugar or not; Julie likes hers sweet, Beth likes hers without sugar. Serve for breakfast with yogurt, alongside pork chops for dinner, or warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Machine: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker; fuzzy logic only
Cycle: Porridge
Yield: About 3 cups
8 large, firm, tart green apples (2 1/2 to 3 pounds)
1/2 cup water or apple juice
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to your taste
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
Peel, core, and coarsely chop the apples. .Place in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water, sugar (if using), cinnamon, and butter. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
When the machine switches to the keep Warm cycle, carefully open the cover allowing the steam to escape. Stir the cooked fruit and its liquid with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. The applesauce should be soft and chunky (you can puree it in a food processor or with an immersion blender if you like it smooth). Let stand to cool.
Transfer the applesauce to a covered container and refrigerate. keeps for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long), or freeze.
Pear applesauce: Use 4 apples and 4 large firm ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Black cherry applesauce: Use 6 apples and add one 16-ounce bag frozen unsweetened pitted dark sweet cherries. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Apricot applesauce: Add 4 to 6 fresh apricots, pitted and chopped, or 6 to 8 dried apricot halves to the apples. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Rhubarb applesauce: Use 5 apples and 2 cups fresh rhubarb cut into 1-inch pieces; (1/2 pound). Substitute grated orange zest for the cinnamon. Increase the sugar to 1/2 cup. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Ginger applesauce: Add 2 heaping tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Cranberry applesauce: Use 6 apples and 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, picked over for stems. Increase the sugar to 2/3 cup. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Mango applesauce: Use 6 apples and add 1 to 2 fresh mangos, peeled, pitted, and chopped. No sugar is necessary, as the mangos are very sweet. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
Plum applesauce: Use 4 apples and 6 firm ripe purple plums, pitted and cut into chunks. Proceed with the recipe as directed.
