Team Nutrition Cooks! 

Applesauce

H

FAMILY

ANDOUT
Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

Table of Contents

Letter to Family ............................................................................................ 1

Recipe: Applesauce..................................................................................... 3

How to Wash Your Hands. ........................................................... ................ 4

Skills We Used Today .................................................................................. 5

My Applesauce Story ................................................................................ 12

Kitchen Tools ............................................................................................. 13

Making a MyPlate Meal with Applesauce.................................................. 14
Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handou

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1

Dear Family,

Today, your child made applesauce as part of 

a cooking activity. He or she practiced many 

basic cooking skills. This Family Handout 

includes the recipe as well as step-by-step 

instructions for the cooking skills. Give it a try 

at home for a snack or as a side to a meal—

your child would love the chance to show 

off his or her new skills! If you’d like, you can 

share a picture of your prepared recipe with 

us on Twitter: @TeamNutrition #Applesauce.

Some skills we covered in our cooking 

activity were: 

• How to Rinse

• How to Peel

• How to Core and Slice

• How to Dice

• How to Measure Liquids

• How to Use a Cooktop Safely

• How to Simmer

• How to Cool Food Safely

• How to Stir

• How to Mash

• How to Set a Table

• How to Serve Family Style

Ask your child about today’s activities. 

Here are some questions to get the 

conversation going: 

• What did you cook today?

• What steps did you follow to make the 

applesauce?

• Is applesauce something we can make at 

home? What spices do you want to add?

• Do we have the kitchen tools we need to 

make the applesauce?

• What other ingredients do we need to 

make the applesauce?

• What could we serve with this applesauce 

to include other food groups?

Make meals and memories together! 

Cooking is a skill your child will use for life. 

You can also watch a video that shows many 

of the skills in this activity at https://www.fns.

usda.gov/tn/cooks.
Look and Cook Recipe:

Applesauce

Ingredients

Water Apples Cinnamon

(Optional)

Directions

1

Wash your hands.

2

Optional: 

Peel the apples.

3

Core and slice the 

apples.

4

Dice the apples.

5

Measure the water 

and pour into the pot.

6

Cook the apples.

7

Cool and stir the 

apples.

8

Mash the apples. 

Add spices (optional).

9

Enjoy the 

applesauce!

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Applesauce

Eat this by itself as a snack, spoon it into yogurt for breakfast, or eat it with potato pancakes, French 

toast, chicken, or pork. 

Total Time: 55 minutes • Hands-on Time: 20 minutes • Yield: 6 servings • Serving Size: 3⁄4 cup

INGREDIENTS

6 apples, any variety, rinsed 

1⁄2 cup water

1⁄2 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wash your hands with soap and water, then

gather all your kitchen tools and ingredients

and put them on a clean counter or other

cooking surface.

2. Optional: Peel the apples.

Note: Applesauce with the peel left on is faster to 

make and healthier. The apple peel has fiber, which

helps you feel full and has many other benefits for 

our health.

3. Use the apple corer or slicer to remove the

core and cut the apple into slices. If you do 

not have a slicer, have a helper use a chef’s

knife to take out the core and cut the apple

into slices.

4. Dice the apple slices.

5. Measure the water and pour the water in the 

pot.

6. Add the diced apples to the pot with water,

cover, and put the pot on the stove. Turn

the heat to medium-low and cook until the

apples are tender, about 25 minutes.

7. Take pot off the stove and set aside to cool a

bit, about 10 minutes. Once it has cooled a

bit, stir it to help the applesauce cool faster.

8. Mash the apples using a potato masher or

fork. If you'd like to add cinnamon or other

spices, add and stir them in now.

9. Serve and enjoy the applesauce right

away or store in the refrigerator in a lidded

container. The applesauce will keep, covered

and refrigerated, for up to 4 days.

SHOPPING LIST

 6 apples (any variety, such as Fuji, Granny Smith, 

Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Red Delicious, 

Winesap, and Pink Lady)

 Cinnamon

 Dried spices, such as nutmeg, ginger, or cloves

(optional)

 Amount per serving: Calories: 94; Total Fat: 0.5 g; Saturated 

Fat: 0 g; Sodium: 2 mg; Total Carbohydrate: 24 g; Dietary Fiber: 

4 g; Sugars: 19 g; Protein: 0 g; Vitamin A: 78 IU; Vitamin C: 0 mg;

Calcium: 12 mg; Iron: 0 mg. 

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

PAGE 3
How to Wash Your Hands

Washing our hands helps keep foods safe and prevents germs from spreading. Everyone must wash 

his or her hands before any tasting or cooking begins. Remind your child to keep his or her clean hands 

away from his or her mouth, nose, face, or other places on the body.

1. Take off all jewelry on your arms and hands.

2. Wet your hands with clean, running water, and

apply soap.

3. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the 

soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, your 

palms, between your fingers, and under your fingernails.

4. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? 

Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end

twice.

5. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.

6. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air-dry them.

7. Turn off the faucet with a paper towel, not your bare

hands.

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Skills We Used Today

During the activity, your child learned about and may have practiced some of the skills that follow. 

Encourage him or her to show you these skills and to help out in the kitchen. Depending on the age of 

your child, he or she may need supervision when practicing these skills. You can use these skills when 

making other recipes as well. As a reminder, you and your child should wash your hands and wipe down 

surfaces before cooking or practicing cooking skills.

How to Rinse

Rinsing apples removes dirt and germs from the skin.

These are the steps your child followed in this activity:

1. Rinse the apples under cold, running tap water. Optional: scrub the peel with a clean vegetable brush while 

rinsing the fruit.

2. Make sure to rinse and scrub the whole apple.

3. Dry with a paper towel. 

How to Peel 

While your child is still learning to peel, he or she might move slowly and struggle to get long pieces of peel off. 

That’s okay! You or another adult can help if your child has too much trouble. Remind your child that a peeler is sharp 

and to avoid touching the blade. 

Your child might have made applesauce using apples with the peel on because it is faster and healthier. The apple 

peel has fiber, which helps us feel full and has many other benefits for our health.

These are the steps your child followed in this activity:

1. Peel the rinsed apples over a clean cutting board, bowl, or sink. Do not peel over the garbage can in case the

apple is dropped!

2. Keep your hand on the handle at the bottom part of the peeler and avoid the blade.

3. Peel from top to bottom, in strips, working around the apple until the entire peel is gone.

4. Throw away or compost the peel.

SAFETY TIP: A peeler is sharp—avoid touching the blade!

BRIGHT IDEA: If you want to leave the peel on but still give your child practice with this skill, he or she can

practice peeling just one apple.

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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How to Core and Slice

Always use the slicer or chef's knife on a cutting board 

to avoid damaging the countertop and use a nonslip 

cutting board for safety. Adults should wash and dry 

the knife or slicer.

Have your child stand on a stool so that he or she can 

get plenty of leverage. You can explain that being higher

up will help him or her push down harder on the apple. 

Ask your child to push hard and straight down. If the 

slicer is at an angle, it will not remove the core cleanly. 

An adult can help if your child has trouble. 

 SAFETY TIP: The slicer and chef’s knives ar e sharp.

Avoid touching the blades.

These are the steps your child followed in this

activity:

1. Stand an apple with the stem facing up on a cutting 

board. Put the apple slicer on top of the apple, with

the center of the apple in the circular part of the slicer.

2. Keep your fingers wrapped around the handle and

away from the blades on the bottom of the slicer. Push

straight down, hard, with both hands.

3. If the apple or any apple slices get stuck in the slicer,

do not flip the slicer upside down or bang it on a table. 

Ask an adult to use a knife to push or cut the apple 

out of the slicer.

If you do not have an apple slicer, follow the steps 

below. Only adults should handle the chef’s knife: 

1. Stand an apple with the stem facing up on the cutting 

board. Using the chef's knife, slowly cut the apple in 

half from top to bottom.

2. Cut the apple into quarters, and then use the knife to 

cut out the seeds.

3. Take each quarter and cut into smaller slices. The 

children can use the slices to practice their dicing skills. 

4. Throw away or compost the apple core and seeds.
How to Dice 

“Dicing” means cutting foods into small, dice-shaped cubes. 

Take this opportunity to talk about knife safety, including 

teaching your child to go slowly and to keep an eye on the 

knife at all times. ALWAYS cut on a cutting board to avoid 

damaging the countertop and use a nonslip cutting board for 

safety. Adults should wash and dry the knives. Your child can 

use a butter knife to learn dicing skills instead of a sharp knife. 

These are the steps your child followed in this activity:

1. Hold the knife in the hand you use to write with, and 

grip it firmly around the handle.

2. Dice one slice at a time by placing the flat side of the apple

on the cutting board. This way the apple slice will not roll

when you cut it.

3. Use your other hand to steady the apple slice, keeping your 

fingers curled under, away from the knife. Pay attention to 

where the knife is; as it moves forward, the hand holding the 

apple should move backward. The distance between the 

knife and the hand holding the apple should always stay the 

same.

4. Cut the apples into pieces the size of dice. 

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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How to Measure Liquids

It is important to measure correctly when 

following a recipe. While your child is 

still learning, he or she might need some 

help cleaning up spills or making sure the 

measurements are correct. Help your child 

double-check the measurements before 

putting the ingredients in a recipe. The 

measuring tools your child learned about 

today are liquid measuring cups. Below are 

the steps your child followed to measure 

water for this recipe.

How to Measure the Water

1. Put the liquid measuring cup on a flat 

surface.

2. Fill the measuring cup until the liquid 

reaches the 1⁄2-cup line on the side of the 

cup.

3. Lean down to get eye level with the 

measurement lines. The line of the water 

will have a slight curve. The bottom of the 

curve should touch the measurement line.

The difference between dry and liquid measuring cups: 

• Both kinds of measuring cups are divided into fractions of 

cups—usually 1 cup, 1⁄2 cup, 1⁄3 cup, 1⁄4 cup.

• Different tools are used for measuring liquids and dry 

ingredients.

• Liquid measuring cups (usually made of clear glass or 

plastic, sometimes with a pour spout) are filled even with

the measurement line (such as 1⁄4 cup or 1⁄2 cup) on the

cup’s side. The spout on the liquid measuring cup helps 

prevent spills.

• Dry measuring cups (usually shorter and not see-through)

are meant to be filled right to the top and then leveled off

using the straight edge of a knife or fork. “Leveled off”

means that the dry ingredients are made even with the top 

of the measuring cup so that the measurement is accurate.

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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How to Simmer

To simmer, bring the water to a boil using 

medium-high heat and then reduce the heat so 

that the bubbles that appear when the water is 

boiling are almost gone. 

Be sure to talk about cooktop safety, as 

described in the How to Use a Cooktop Safely

box below.

These are the steps your child followed in 

this activity:

1. Put the water and diced apples into the pot. It

is important to use a large enough pot to hold

the food and water without overflowing and 

with enough space that the food can move 

and be stirred.

2. Place the pot on the stove. Turn the heat to

medium-high and watch for bubbles breaking

all over the water’s surface, which means that

the water is boiling.

3. Turn down the temperature to medium-low

so that the bubbles almost stop. Cover and 

cook until the apples are tender, about 25

minutes.

4. Set aside to cool, about 10 minutes.

How to Use a Cooktop Safely 

Teach your child how to use a cooktop safely by talking about 

the points below:

• Different cooktops have different ways to turn on the heat.

• If the cooktop uses gas, you will have to turn the knob to light the 

burner before choosing the temperature.

• On a gas stove, you will see the flame on the burner.

• With electric and induction cooktops, turn the knob directly to the

temperature you want. You will not see a flame on the burner.

• We strongly recommend that you or another adult be the one to 

turn on the cooktop. You can explain and describe each step to 

your child.

• Make sure the handle of your pot is turned inward, toward the center of the cooktop. Otherwise, you 

could accidentally knock the pot off the stove, causing serious burns.

• Never walk away from food cooking on the cooktop or leave it unattended.

• When moving any hot skillet, pan, or lid, use pot holders, not towels, which can catch fire.

• Keep your cooking area neat. Do not keep flammable items, like dish towels, papers, or cardboard

packages, near the stove.

How to Stir

Stirring helps the heat from the bottom and sides of the pot 

spread out more evenly, and helps the apples cool quickly. 

Below are the steps your child followed in this activity:

1. Put the wooden spoon in the pot. Move the spoon in a 

circle, slowly, so that nothing in the pot spills. 

2. Make sure the spoon goes all the way to the bottom when 

stirring. This helps to make sure nothing sticks to the side or 

bottom of the pot.

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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How to Cool Food Safely

It is important to let food you have just cooked cool 

before eating it to avoid the risk of burns. Be sure to talk 

about safety, including waiting until food cools before 

eating it and putting hot kitchen tools somewhere safe. 

Your child may need help removing the pot from the 

stovetop, spooning the hot applesauce into a bowl, and 

putting kitchen tools somewhere safe to cool off. 

These are the steps your child followed in this 

activity:

1. Ask an adult to remove hot food and kitchen tools 

from the stove so they can cool faster.

2. Use potholders or oven mitts to move hot dishes so 

that you do not burn yourself.

SAFETY TIP: Put hot kitchen tools on a trivet or 

cooling rack so that they do not damage the counter.

How to Mash 

Mashing applesauce helps control the texture. To leave 

applesauce chunky, only mash a little bit. For smoother 

applesauce, keep mashing until you get the texture you 

want. Your child can use a potato masher or fork to 

mash the cooked apples. 

These are the steps your child followed in this 

activity:

1. Work in a circle, mashing around the edges, and then 

mash into the middle after going all the way around.

2. Make sure to mash all the apples equally.

3. Stop mashing when the applesauce is the texture

you want.

Depending on the size of your pot and how much the 

pot has cooled off, you may want to spoon all of the 

applesauce into a large mixing bowl before mashing. 

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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How to Set a Table

While your child is still learning, he or she might get the place settings a little confused and need some help. 

Set up a sample place setting for your child to follow. After showing the correct place setting, give your child 

the necessary supplies and have him or her set the table.

These are the steps your child followed in this activity:

1. Put the napkin and fork on the left side of the plate. The fork should lie on top of the napkin. 

2. Place the knife next to the plate on the right side. The blade should face the plate.

3. The spoon belongs on the right side of the knife.

4. The cup goes above the knife and spoon. 

How to Serve Family Style

Food is usually not cooked in individual servings. Instead, most dishes are made in a large batch and then divided 

into portions when served. When a large serving dish is passed around the table from which diners can help 

themselves, this is called “family style.”

When serving family style:

• Make sure to use clean serving utensils that no one has eaten from or cooked with.

• Remind your child that he or she should eat from his or her own plate and never directly from the serving dish,

to avoid spreading germs. No one should touch the food with his or her fingers when serving or holding the 

serving dish.

• Everyone will have his or her own plate and eating utensil.

• Uneaten food should never get returned to the serving dish.

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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My Applesauce Story

Fill in the blanks and bring this home to share with your family.

WORD BANK: Fruits, slicer, ingredients, tools, applesauce, four, peeler, masher, simmering, potato pancakes, 

oatmeal, fork, water, apples, yogurt, liquid 

Today, we made ( _________________ ). The main ingredient is ( _________________ ), which belongs 

in MyPlate’s (_________________ ) Group. Instead of adding sugar to flavor my applesauce, I used 

(_________________ ). Cutting back on added sugars helps us eat smart to play hard! We tasted different

types of apples today, too. My favorite was ( _______________________ ). In my applesauce, I used

( _________________ ) apples. 

The applesauce we made needs to be kept in the refrigerator and eaten within (_________) days. We made the 

applesauce on ( _________________ ), so we will need to eat it by ( _________________ ). Some ways to enjoy 

applesauce include eating it with ( ______________________________________ ).

While making the applesauce, we also learned how to measure. We used a ( _________________ ) measuring 

cup to measure the ( _________________ ) for the applesauce. 

Today, we also learned how to read a recipe. It’s important to read the recipe all the way through first so that 

you know what ( _________________ ) and kitchen ( _________________ ) you will need, what the steps are, and 

how much time it will take. 

When we made the applesauce, we learned to use new tools. Some of these tools were a ( _____________ ),

which is used for peeling. We used a ( _________________ ), which is used to remove the apple’s core and 

seeds and cut the apple into slices.

We cooked the apples by ( _________________ ) them. After the apples were cooked, we used a 

( _________________ ) or (______) to make the applesauce smooth. 

At the end, we had a chance to taste our applesauce. It was delicious! 

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Kitchen Tools

These are the tools we need to make applesauce. 

Can you name them all?

optional

optional

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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WORD BANK: medium-sized pot, lidded container, apple slicer, liquid measuring cup, 

potato masher, peeler, wooden spoon, cutting board, measuring spoons 
Making a MyPlate Meal

with Applesauce

Your child learned about MyPlate today. The United

States Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate icon

reminds us to eat food from the five food groups. Keep

MyPlate in mind when you’re feeding your family to

help you build a healthy plate.

Apples are packed with nutrients and fit into the Fruits

Group of MyPlate. It is important to fill half your plate with

fruits and vegetables. Below are two ideas that show you how.

Apple slices

Salad with 

lettuce, carrots

tomatoes

Low-fat milk

, 

Brown rice

Pork trimmed of 

fat (or skinless 

chicken breast)

Applesauce

Broccoli,

tomato sauce

Low-fat milk

Whole-wheat 

pasta

90% lean (or 

leaner) ground 

beef

Here is an activity you can do to talk about MyPlate at home.

With your child, create a snack or meal that includes fruit and food from at least two other food groups from 

MyPlate. Look in your refrigerator or pantry for ideas, or you can think of your family’s favorite food.

For an added challenge, think about what you could serve with applesauce to create a MyPlate meal or snack 

with three or more food groups.

Fruit We Found/Fruit We Like

apple

What We Can Add to Create a MyPlate Meal or Snack

peanut butter and low-fat milk

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Notes

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Notes

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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Notes

Team Nutrition Cooks!Applesauce Family Handout

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United States Department of Agriculture – Food and Nutrition Service – August 2018 • FNS-511

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