Healthy Baked Apples are cozy and comforting with tender baked apples, oats, maple syrup, raisins, pecans, and warm apple pie spices. Wholesome, easy recipe that tastes like warm apple crisp.
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Healthy Baked Apples are a warm, comforting dessert that's so easy to make you'll be making them all apple season long.
Halved apples are piled high with a super cozy and wholesome oat filling with cinnamon, maple syrup, plump raisins, and crunchy pecans, then baked until fork-tender.
It's the perfect way to satisfy your cravings for apple pie or apple crisp but with no butter and no refined sugar.
Serve with a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup for an easy dessert or breakfast.
Why You're Going to Love This Recipe
- Healthy dessert with warm and cozy flavors of fall
- Easy baked apples recipe with simple ingredients
- Delicious dessert that's like an individual apple crisp
Ingredients
Fresh apples. Use firm, crisp apples that will hold their shape when baked. For sweet apples, I prefer Honeycrisp or Gala apples. My favorite tart apples are Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples.
Oats. I use old-fashioned rolled oats, but quick oats will also work.
Flour. A little bit of flour acts as a binder to hold the crumble topping together. You can also use oat flour, but the texture will be slightly different.
Coconut oil. Use room temperature coconut oil, not melted. Unrefined coconut oil provides the flavor and aroma of coconut, while refined coconut oil does not taste or smell like coconut.
Maple syrup. Maple syrup adds rich sweetness without refined sugar.
Raisins. You can use any kind of dried fruit. I like to roughly chop the raisins for more even distribution throughout the crumble. If you omit the raisins, just add more oats.
Pecans. Walnuts or almonds would also taste great. If you choose to skip the nuts, substitute with the same quantity of oats.
Spices. Cinnamon and ginger give these healthy baked apples warm apple pie flavor. Use any of your favorite warm spices or spice blends like apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice.
Salt. A pinch of salt brings out the flavors in the crumble.
How to Make Healthy Baked Apples
1. Make the crumble.
In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, flour, maple syrup, raisins, pecans, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Mix in the coconut oil until combined.
2. Cut and core the apples.
Cut the apples in half vertically. Use a spoon or grapefruit spoon to scoop out the core and seeds to create a well in the center of the apple for the filling. Use a sharp paring knife to notch out the blossom at the bottom.
3. Fill the apples.
Place the apple halves in a baking dish. Divide the topping among the apples, lightly packing it into the cavity and mounding it on top of the apples.
Pour water into the baking dish and cover it with aluminum foil.
4. Bake.
Bake apples covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10-30 more minutes or until the apples are tender.
5. Serve and enjoy!
Serve healthy baked cinnamon apples warm with a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.
For a more decadent topping, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream and a drizzle of brown sugar caramel sauce.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftover baked apples in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Reheat in the microwave in 30-second increments until warm or in a 350 degree oven until warm.
Success Tips
Bake time will vary depending on the size and variety of the apples.
Be careful not to overbake, as it can cause the apple skins to split.
If you choose to omit the raisins or pecans, substitute with an equal amount of oats.
Gala, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and Honey Crisp apples hold their shape well when baked.
FAQs
When you're looking for the best apples for baking whole or in halves, choose a firm crisp apple that will hold its shape when baked.
Gala and Honeycrisp are great sweet apples for baking. For the best baking apples with a tart flavor, Granny Smith and Pink Lady are great options.
There are a couple of reasons why baked apples can become mushy. It could be the type of apple or that they were overcooked. When baking apples, choose a variety of apple that will stand up to baking, such as Gala, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Pink Lady apples.
I don't recommend making this entire healthy baked apple recipe ahead of time because the halved apples can turn brown and become mushy. However, you can make the oat crumble in advance and store it in the refrigerator for a day or two until you're ready to bake the apples.
Stuff I Use
Kirkland Ground Saigon Cinnamon gives plenty of warm cinnamon flavor to these baked apples. I pick it up at Costco, but it's also available at Amazon.
My set of KitchenAid measuring cups and spoons is red, but it comes in lots of other fun colors like lavender cream, pistachio, and blue velvet.
More Easy Apple Desserts
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Healthy Baked Apples
Ingredients
- 2 apples
- ¼ cup old fashioned oats
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoons raisins
- 1 tablespoons pecans
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- ¾ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Make the oat crumble. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, maple syrup, raisins, pecans, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Add the coconut oil and stir until combined.
- Halve and core the apples. Cut each apple in half from the stem to blossom end. Use a spoon to scoop out the core and seeds, creating a well. Make a v-shaped cut with a paring knife to cut out the blossom.
- Fill the apple halves. Place the apples skin-side-down in a baking dish. Divide the topping among the apples, lightly packing it into the well and mounding it on top of the apples. Pour ¾ cup water into the baking dish and cover it with aluminum foil.
- Bake, serve, enjoy! Bake the apples covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10-30 more minutes or until the apples are fork-tender. Serve warm with a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.
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