October is designated National Dessert Month, and it’s a great time of year to take advantage of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Fruits such as apples, pears, cranberries or pineapple can be used in a variety of dessert recipes ranging from pies and cakes to pandowdies. Vegetables like sweet potatoes and pumpkin can be used in brownies, cookies and tarts.

Just because this month is focused on desserts, it doesn’t mean they have to be loaded with calories, fat and carbs. Other healthy best practices when making desserts include:

• Use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.

• Substitute white all-purpose flour for other flours.
• Try unsweetened applesauce instead of oil in baking.
• Swap Greek yogurt for butter.
• Use coconut cream instead of heavy cream.

This healthy, yummy apple crisp dessert is perfect for this time of year. Enjoy!

Healthy Apple Crisp

Prep Time: 2 min. | Cook Time: 30 min. | Total Time: 32 min. | Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

For the filling

• 5 large apples sliced, approximately 2 lbs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

For the crisp topping

• 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 9 x 9-inch baking dish and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine all the filling ingredients and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, add the crisp topping ingredients and whisk together.

3. Place the filling into the greased baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the apples have softened. Remove from the oven and spread out the crisp topping over it. Place back in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

4. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes, before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 204 | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g
Sodium: 3mg | Potassium: 176mg | Fiber: 4g | Calcium: 30mg

Recipe provided by: The Big Man’s World ®