Gluten-Free Apple Crisp Recipe
This gluten free apple crisp recipe was developed exclusively for Nuts.com and our customers by Miryam Quinn Doblas, Registered Dietitian (RD). Miryam shares her passion for nutrition and healthy eating on her blog, Eat Good 4 Life.
For a delicious, fruit-filled dessert that’s easy to make, I love this gluten-free apple crisp. It’s one of my favorite desserts to make with the kids because they have a lot of fun helping out. You can enjoy the apple crisp as a healthy after-dinner dessert, or even as a snack. My family loves to eat it with ice cream, but it’s also wonderful on its own.
The great thing about crisps is they’re so versatile that you can make them with any of your favorite fruits. I chose Granny Smith apples because their tart flavor complements the sweetness of the dessert’s topping. They also have a great texture that holds up well in baking, but feel free to experiment with other apple varieties. Cooked apples provide a good source of potassium and are easy to digest. The apple mixture is a combination of peeled and cubed apples, lemon juice, and arrowroot powder, for thickening.
The streusel-like topping is made with nutrient-dense ingredients like gluten-free rolled oats and almond flour. The rolled oats crisp up nicely in the oven, and almond flour is a perfect gluten-free alternative to all-purpose flour in the topping mixture. Rolled oats are a good source of fiber, while almond flour provides ample amounts of protein and heart-healthy monounsaturated fats.
Dried blueberries and macadamia nuts further lend nutrition, taste, and texture to the crumbly dessert topping. Each bite of the apple crisp is met with delicious bursts of blueberry flavor, along with rich antioxidants that the little berries contain. Crunchy macadamia nuts make the texture more enticing, and are also a good source of vitamin E and healthy fats. In the past, I’ve made apple crisps using pecans and walnuts, so if you don’t have macadamia nuts on-hand, other nuts will also work. I’ve also added unsweetened shredded coconut into the mix before, so if you like coconut, go for it.
My apple crisp is suitable for vegan diets because I used coconut oil in place of the butter that is traditionally used in apple crisp recipes. Coconut oil offers a range of health benefits, from boosting metabolism to improving blood cholesterol levels. It’s also rich in lauric acid, a fatty acid that fights bacteria and viruses to prevent infection.
If you look at the ingredients list of apple crisps and crumbles from the grocery store, you’ll notice that many of them are made with preservatives, sugar, bad fats, and artificial ingredients. Making your own version is not only more economical and healthy, but it is very easy and fast to put together. I often double the recipe while making crisps and freeze one batch for the future.
For those of you following a nut-free diet, you can omit the nuts and almond flour and use brown rice flour instead. I have done that in the past to share the crisp with my son’s friends who have nut allergies.
I hope you like this healthy gluten-free apple crisp. I know we will be making this dessert quite often this fall season, and I hope you do too. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb apples, peeled and cubed
- 1 tsp Arrowroot Powder, or cornstarch
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 1/2 cups Gluten-Free Rolled Oats
- 1 1/2 cups Almond Flour
- 1 cup Dried Blueberries
- 1 cup Macadamia Nut Pieces
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 2/3 cup Coconut Oil, melted
- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. In a 9’’ x 13’’ baking dish, add the cubed apples, lemon juice and arrowroot powder. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients until you obtain a cohesive mixture. Spread this mixture evenly over the apples.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the top starts to brown. Turn the oven off and let the crisp cool in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Serve warm or as desired. We like to serve ours with vanilla ice cream.
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This recipe was developed and photographed exclusively for Nuts.com by Miryam Quinn Doblas, RD, of Eat Good 4 Life.
3 Responses to “Gluten-Free Apple Crisp Recipe”
Sounds great! Do you have the nutritional information?
Hi Alberta! Thanks for your interest. You can find the nutritional info on Miryam’s website here: http://www.eatgood4life.com/apple-crisp/ A serving of 169 grams is equivalent to 1/10th of the apple crisp.
This apple crisp is absolutely delicious, but I would put twice as many apples!
Thank you so much for the recipe!