4:15 pm on a Friday and I wanted to make dessert for the evening, but I was running low on both time and energy. This crisp, which started life as a heavier version on food.com, uses minimal wheat flour, takes about 15 minutes to throw together and bakes up in about thirty. Easily made vegan. Very low sugar. Healthy and deliciously sweet and crunchy.
Both the EZ and the Ugly of this recipe owe to the use of a food processor. And, instead of painstakingly peeling and slicing the apples with a knife, I just used my brand new apple corer to core and slice them.
Then I pulse them, peels and all, in the food processor.
The apple pieces do not come out in beautiful uniformly-shaped pieces, but who cares.
The topping is also pulsed in the food processor, so no squeezing stuff between your fingers! Unless you want to. Then by all means squeeze away. The whole recipe can also be made manually if you don’t have a food processor – no problem.
Enjoy, possibly with a little whipped cream! Also, for nut lovers, you can dump 1/2 cup walnuts into the food processor with the apples.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 8)
1 tblsp Truvia (or other brand) baking blend sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup Splenda (or other brand) brown sugar blend
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 tsp nutmeg (depending on how much you like nutmeg)
1/8 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter or vegan spread
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (This fits nicely into a toaster oven, and as they heat up much faster than the bigger ovens, I use the toaster oven for this to save even more time.) Oil an 8″ round or square baking pan.
Rinse the apples, core and quarter (or slice into eights if you’re using an apple corer!). Depending on the size and aggressiveness of your food processor, fill it with as much apple as you think it can handle and pulse briefly until apples are in small chunks. (You could also chop up the apples with a sharp knife.) If some pieces are significantly bigger than the others, break them apart with your fingers.
In a small bowl, mix together the tablespoon Truvia baking blend (or any sugar baking blend) and the half teaspoon cinnamon. Pour the chopped/processed apples into a large bowl. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the apples, then mix with a spoon to completely coat all the apples.
Dump the apples into the baking pan, spreading them evenly.
Rinse off the food processor blade and wipe out the inside of the processor with a dry paper tower to clean out the apple leavings. Replace the blade and put all remaining ingredients into the food processor, pulsing until ingredients are well mixed and crumbly (alternatively you could throw it all in a bowl and mix with a spoon). Sprinkle topping evenly over apples.
Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, or until top is browned and apples have softened (check at about 20 minutes; if topping is getting too brown – –cover crisp with foil and continue baking).
Healthy, EZ, Yummy! 