Healthy Tasty Chowcleaner recipes, reviews and food chatter

It happened again, my dad gave me a huge, I’m talking 12 cup bowl of currants to do something with.  What in the world am I going to do with all of these currants?  Well, there may be more to come with currants but I decided that apple currant crisp with a nutty crispy topping would do the trick.  YES!!!  YUMMY!  Originally, I wanted to put pecans in the topping but realized that I didn’t have any while making it.  So, I used chopped walnuts instead and they made the crisp extra delicious.  Pecans would’ve been fantastic as well.  I thought about using black walnuts, which I still think would’ve worked, but decided to go with the more crowd-pleasing regular old walnut.  Pink Lady apples are my favorite type to eat on a daily basis, so I used those.  My actual favorite baking apple is the Jonathan, but only during season from the local apple orchards.  I don’t think the bagged ones at the stores taste good at all.

Ingredients:

• APPLE LAYER
• 7 apples, peeled and sliced, I used organic pink lady apples
• juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
• 1 TB Vanilla
• 2 TB sugar, I used white organic
• 2 TB almond flour
• 2 cups currants - I used red
• TOPPING
• 1 1/2 cups (gluten-free) oats
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (to keep the feel of traditional crisp)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (to off-set the dry almond flour and add extra maple flavor)
• 1/4 cup erythritol (I used Z Sweet, to lighten it a little)  …you can use 3/4-1 cup of whatever sweetener you prefer
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 350
• Grease 9 x 13″ baking dish
• Place apples in baking dish, sprinkle with vanilla, almond flour and sugar, coat evenly (I had my apples chopped up waiting to go in the pan and squeezed the lemon juice on them because I didn’t want them to turn brown.  The lemon will add a teeny bit of flavor but most likely you won’t taste it.  I was being anal)
• Add currants and carefully mix to evenly distribute
• In a separate bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix with fork
• Crumble mixture on top of apple mixture and flatten slightly for full coverage
• Bake for 30-45 minutes - if the top gets crispy and golden before the apples cook through, put foil on the top to stop it from burning

By the way, I’ve been having computer problems and haven’t been able to do any posting until just now, so I’ve got lots of things coming that I was waiting to do.   I’m very excited to be able to be working on my computer again!!!

I made this cookie recipe because I really wanted to use coconut oil in cookies for the heavier consistency factor - like back when our moms used to throw butter flavored Crisco in cookies and they always tasted the best with the chewy heartier texture?  With what I know now, I would never buy shortening to use in my foods and feed to my family.  We are coconut lovers and the added coconut flavor from the coconut oil is a welcome change.  If you don’t like coconut or if you have coconut allergies - you can just buy some organic shortening which is made of palm oil and is trans-fat free.  These cookies are flourless!  By using coconut oil, spelt flour, ground flaxseed, and oats, you’re getting a much healthier version and a  tasty treat.  If you really wanted a cleaner eating version of the cookie, you can always substitute agave nectar for the sugar.  If you wanted a lighter version, you could also substitute applesauce for the butter.  However, I like using at least a few traditional ingredients in baking because it usually lends to a better flavor!

• 1/4 cup organic butter, softened
• 1/8 cup extra virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter and coconut oil together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar and beat well. Add egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, combine spelt flour, flaxseed, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture, then stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Drop a heaping teaspoon of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

This makes a small batch of around 35 little cookies.  I prefer these cookies cooled because the coconut flavor comes out!  Also, these are toddler and husband approved!  My husband is fairly picky on healthy versions of cookies but lately I’ve gotten much better at it that he doesn’t know he’s eating a healthy version… except he knows I made them so he does know deep down:)