An Awesome Apple Crumble

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, I wanted to post some sort of ‘traditional’ seasonal recipe turned healthy. Now, when it comes to dessert for Thanksgiving, most people think pumpkin pie, but I happened to grow up on an orchard, (and have a father who despises pumpkin other than the ones that are carved on the porch), so for me, apples are the tradition!

One of the first ‘healthy’ dessert tricks I learned was to make a raw crust out of nuts and dates. So, this dessert has a raw base, that is simply walnuts, almonds, dates, and some coconut oil. I then cooked the apples, and was going to leave it at that…but thought it didn’t quite look finished. (Well, actually, what really happened was my boyfriend said, “My Mom’s doesn’t look like that”.) So, I added a “crumble” topping that is similar to the base, but a bit chunkier to make it look more “normal”. 🙂

This cashew cream topping was inspired by Joyous Health, a fellow nutritionist who also has some delicious recipes, and I have to say it gives it the perfect touch.

Prep Time:

45 mins

Cook Time:

0 mins

Total Time:

45 mins

Serves:

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dates
1 TBSP coconut oil

Apple Filling:

5 medium apples
1 TBSP coconut oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP maple syrup

Crumble:

½ cup almonds
½ cup walnuts
2 TBSP maple syrup
½ tsp cinnamon

Cashew Cream:

1 cup cashews (soaked for an hour if possible, but not necessary)
2 TBSP maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼-1/2 cup water (depending on consistency..see instructions)

Directions:

For crust, place one cup each almonds/walnuts into food processor and process until you have a relatively fine consistency
While processor is on, drop in dates one at a time
Mix in coconut oil
Remove from processor and place in round glass pan
Press firmly down so that the crust has stuck together and place in freezer to set for 30 min
For apple filling, heat one TBSP coconut oil over low-med heat
Core and slice apples into thin wedges
Place apple slices in pan, and add cinnamon and maple syrup
Cook apples in pan until just cooked, making sure they're not soggy (~10 min)
Remove apples from pan and set aside
For the crumble, add the ½ cup each of almonds/walnuts and the cinnamon to the food processor and pulse until a crumbly consistency
Add in maple syrup and pulse just until mixed
Cover the crust with apple mixture, and then put the crumble on top
For the cashew cream, blend cashews on high speed in the food processor until you start to get a liquidy consistency. You will need to add in water whlie its running and keep adding water until you get the creamy consistency you want.
Mix in vanilla and maple syrup and blend one more time.
Don't worry if the crust falls apart when you cut it, as after all, it is a crumble!