Holiday Desserts are Made to be Eaten: Apple Crumble Recipe

I have a theory about holiday desserts. You should eat it.

Between Halloween and Valentine’s Day, we all bounce around Pinterest looking at everything from food porn (27 layer cakes drowned in chocolate sauce and buttercream), to the latest article about how to stay thin during the season of eating. Perhaps the two don’t go together.

The season will certainly not pass without decorating cookies with my three kids, eating a slice of my dad’s carrot cake, or having a cocktail with my husband. I wish I could say that food is only nourishment for me, but I'm from the south. We speak food. If you get married, we bring a casserole for your freezer. If somebody dies, we take a pound cake. Mealtime is as much about nourishing our relationships as it is about nourishing the body. I think that is exactly as it should be.

But.

The south is also famous for a different holiday tradition; the dessert table. It's the fold out table at the end of the buffet line that is slightly smaller than the table that holds all the other food. Nobody can withstand the pull of the dessert table. And you cannot get just one dessert there; you get a new plate.

How do you plan for the decadence of holiday eating so that spring is not full of regret?

1. First and most importantly...give yourself permission to eat dessert.

I see the articles too. The experts who say you should eat one cookie then stop. Those people don’t live at my house. Or in my neighborhood. Or universe. You better be willing to use physical force if you think you're going to cut anyone off at one cookie after the tryptophan kicks in. So just admit it, guilt or no guilt, we're all going to eat dessert.

2. Focus on whole food ingredients.

I didn’t say eat an apple for dessert, I said focus on whole food ingredients. Put that brown sugar or maple syrup in your apple filling to make it taste like dessert! But there is still an apple in there. Nobody will ever know if you use white whole wheat flour instead of refined flour as the thickener. Trust me, my family still has no idea, and white wheat has been my household flour for years. And I'm going to give you a magical crumble topping that is going to make your guests beg for your recipe.

3. Befriend the ramekin, Unfriend the buffet spoon

Everyone loves to have their own personal dessert after a special meal. Ramekins look so thoughtful and put together, and a little like you've been slaving all day in the kitchen. After your holiday meal, serve your dessert in single portions by using ramekins. Plan for everyone to have one. You can even put a scoop of ice cream on top of it. Guess how many scoops of ice cream fit on top of a ramekin? You guessed it... one. And it's physically impossible to serve dessert in a ramekin with a buffet spoon.

Apple Crumble

INGREDIENTS

Apple Filling:

• 6 apples, peeled and diced (I have the large ramekins and it takes 6 apples peeled and diced small to fill 4 of them.)
• 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3 tbsp butter

Crumble Topping:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 2 tbsp white wheat flour
• 4 tbsp cold butter

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
• In a large bowl, add the apples, zest and juice from the lemon, flour, maple syrup or brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Toss well to coat the apples.
• Toss butter in the bottom of a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan, over medium heat. Let it melt then add the apple mixture and let them cook until they're soft. Depending on the apple type, you might need to add ¼ cup of water to the pot to get them cooking.
• Once the apples are soft and there's lots of yummy apple syrup all over the place, spoon them into your ramekins.
• In a food processor, add rolled oats, brown sugar, walnuts, flour, and 4 tbsp of cold butter. Pulse until it resembles pebbles.
• Top the ramekins with the oatmeal crumble topping. Sit the ramekins on a sheet pan to catch anything that bubbles over.
• Pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
• Serve warm with or without a scoop of ice cream.

Enjoy!

Cynthia Rusincovitch
Whole Food | Real Families