My biggest pitfall when it comes to eating right is my pervasive sweet tooth. I can forego dessert for a day or two, but then it’s all I can think about and I become obsessed. Over time, I’ve learned that I can indulge my sweet tooth without sabotaging my waistline, as long as I make smart choices. This clean eating Apple Crisp recipe is one of my favorites since drizzled in a decadent caramel sauce, I can enjoy one of my favorite comfort foods with absolutely no guilt.
What I Substituted To Make It Clean Eating
To make this recipe “clean” I consulted this Clean Eating grocery list to make sure I substituted out any ingredients that weren’t clean eating-friendly with those that were. I eliminated enriched flour, butter, and sugar. I used whole wheat flour in place of white flour, coconut oil in place of butter, and coconut sugar in place of cane sugar. For the caramel sauce, I used coconut milk, maple syrup and coconut sugar in place of cream, butter, and sugar. The final result was a clean eating apple crisp and caramel sauce that was just as decadent and delicious as a traditional apple crisp.
📋 Recipe
Clean Eating Apple Crisp with Caramel Sauce
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Ingredients
Topping
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 T coconut oil melted
Filling
- 6 Granny Smith apples peeled cored, and thinly sliced
- 3 Tbs maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel Sauce
- 1 13.66 oz can coconut milk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 Tbs coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9×13 in baking dish.
- Combine topping ingredients in medium bowl and stir until crumbly.
- Combine filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to coat apple slices completely.
- Pour apple filling into prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle topping over the apple mixture.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until topping is golden brown. While apple crisp is baking, combine caramel sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Stir briskly until sauce comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir occasionally for 30 minutes until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes (sauce will continue to thicken as it cools).
- Drizzle caramel sauce over the apple crisp before serving.
Nutrition
Sweet Apple Crisp With Paleo Ice Cream
The sweetness from the maple syrup and coconut sugar is more than enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. Hot out of the oven, with the crispy golden topping and the smooth creaminess of the salted caramel sauce, this dessert is pure bliss! If you absolutely MUST have ice cream with your apple crisp, I love this recipe for Paleo Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream from Paleo Leap, but honestly, this clean eating apple crisp is satisfying all by itself.
Other Healthier Dessert Ideas
If you are looking for more dessert recipes that you can enjoy with less guilt, you might like some of my other attempts at “healthifying” (ok, not really a word, but I’m sure you know what I mean) my favorite desserts. The recipes weren’t created with clean eating in mind, but instead with the intent to include ingredients that I felt were healthier, or less unhealthy, than those found in the original recipes.
Guilt-Free Cheesecake Brownies
In case I didn’t mention it already, I’m a bit of a chocoholic. Also, cookies are my all-time favorite dessert. I’m telling you this to explain why, despite the fact I had already shared the recipe above for Chocolate Protein Cookies, I also created another recipe for Healthy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. Despite the fact that they look similar, the ingredients are vastly different.
That would definitely satisfy my sweet tooth! You can’t go wrong with caramel and apples in my book.