Each fall, I can’t help myself from buying apples by the bushel. I get so excited by the crisp air and the fresh-from-the-orchard fruit that I inevitably buy way too many.

So I end up baking pies and apple cakes. I even saute fresh sliced apples for breakfast the way my mother did when I was a child. But my hands-down favorite thing to make with my abundance? Homemade applesauce. I love to make homemade applesauce when I want to perk up a less-than-exciting meal and impress my dining companions with something unexpectedly delicious.

I remember my first taste of what has become my go-to recipe. My mother was making Julia Child’s French apple tart. Child’s recipe has a bed of well-seasoned applesauce on the bottom and a fan of apricot-jam glazed apples on the top. When I tasted Child’s brandy-laced applesauce, I quickly decided that was the best part of the tart. Since then, I have used a variation of that applesauce as my own.