Buried under an avalanche of apples ...

Well, it's that time of year again. We've harvested what apples the deer, coons and jays didn't abscond with, and I'm ( yet again ) pondering what to do with the bins of fruit staring accusingly at me whenever I step onto our porch. I've made multiple apple crisps and stored them in the freezer, I've made apple chutneys, apple bread, apple butter and tons of applesauce, I've dried more apple slices than I'm ever likely to use, and I still
have more to process. I feel a bit like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, desperately trying to keep up with magically multiplying chores.
Ah well. The upside to this is that I've allowed myself to get creative. With my most recent batch of applesauce I tried adding a couple of novel ingredients: crystalized ginger and dried cranberries, along with the usual cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Also, this time I left the peels on for added nutrient value and fiber ( photo above taken a few days ago during an applesauce marathon using peeled fruit ).
I put the apples, ginger and cranberries  through our VitaMix blender first, with enough water added to allow the mixture to blend smoothly, then simmered the resulting liquidy pulp for a few hours to reduce and thicken it, adding the sugar and spices when it had reached the desired consistency. Finally, everything was put through the blender a final time before being ladled into jars and processed in a boiling water bath.
The resulting sauce was thick, smooth and sweet, with a lovely little bite from the ginger. My husband ( who, admittedly, is biased ) claimed that it was the best applesauce that he'd ever tasted. I have to admit that I'm very pleased with it myself. Now I just have to try to remember how many handfuls of each ingredient I tossed in during my culinary daze, so that hopefully I can recreate the magic next time around.