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Healthy Cranberry Apple Crisp Recipe

Warm up with a healthy cranberry apple crisp on a cold winter day: It’s easy to make with wholesome ingredients and tastes absolutely amazing!

Christmas cookie smells wafting through every kitchen… And you can’t even have a single one.

Do you know what it feels like to eat super healthy during the holidays? I can tell you how: Pretty crappy, actually. But not necessarily because of the cookies I can’t have.

Healthy Cranberry Apple Crisp Photo
(Nora Rusev)

Usually, I take a very balanced and open approach to healthy living and believe in indulgences without guilt.

But then I decided to do this whole gut healing thing, remember? And what can I say… It’s been a very eye-opening challenge.

It’s not that I was living off fast food before, not at all. But being so super strict and also restricted in what I can and cannot eat during the holiday season? It does have something excluding.

Thankfully, I get over the fact that I cannot eat all.the.fudge pretty quickly. Only – other people don’t.

They’ll go… Oh don’t be like that. Have a taste already.

And you’ll say: No thank you, I’m fine right now.

They’ll reply: What’s the matter with you?

And you want to say… Look at my skin. I’m a grown woman with the worst acne. Also, I can’t get out of bed without at least a gallon of coffee. My digestion is back in the newborn stages. And all day long, I feel like a truck is running me over, again and again. That is the matter.

But instead you just shrug a bit nervously, ready to be looked at like you’re… Weird. (FYI, we’re not weird, we’re just different.)

Healthy Cranberry Apple Crisp Picture
(Nora Rusev)

I have an extra issue there and despite my mocking, I am thankful that people worry. With my eating disordered past, I get that they don’t want me to go back there, ever.

And truthfully, I’m on the same page. Eating disorders suck.

Just sometimes it’s hard to explain to someone that you are actually eating more than enough calories, you’re just choosing to forgo certain calories for the sake of your health for a few weeks. And that you will most definitely have a slice of Cranberry Walnut Coffee Cake, guilt free, once your insides can tolerate it again.

It’s still extra hard for me to do something like this whole gut healing protocol thing, because I get caught up in the details so quickly. I always tell Brani that I spend my life following Mad Eye Moody’s advice: Constant vigilance!

(If you didn’t get that, you need to go to the library and grab all seven Harry Potter books and only come back here once you’ve read them. I’ll wait.)

Constant vigilance that I do not go down the rabbit hole of restricted eating again.

Since I’m absolutely not doing this to lose weight and I want to keep my mental health intact, I’ve been making plenty of wholesome desserts, baked goodies and energy bites to keep me happy and to share with my peeps so they can rest assured they won’t have to come rushing in with an intervention.

And FYI: Desserts made from wholesome ingredients are still desserts. So actually I don’t have that much regret over missed cookies and fudge.

The kind of dessert I’ve been making a lot lately are crisps and crumbles and whatnots. By now you must know that I’m all about the fruit crisps. I only share one about every month. (And I have a not-so-healthy Apple Crisp Recipe, too.)

This is a special version though: Made with coconut oil, maple syrup and absolutely without any refined ingredients.

As I’m saying this, it is super important to me to stress this over and over again: If you ever decide to go through this madness of gut healing, promise me that you won’t deprive yourself of tasty food.

Life is too short to feel terrible, but it’s also too short to spend months living off of bowls of tasteless mush.

And even when you’re just trying to eat a really wholesome and healthy diet: Constant vigilance, dear. You need to eat enough, especially when it’s all healthy food.

Healthy Cranberry Apple Crisp Image
(Nora Rusev)

And also you need to be perfectly fine and happy about the occasional indulgence. Your mental wellness is not worth the darkness that comes with obsessive behaviors ♡

You’ll be fine without counting calories/macros/whatever the cool kids are counting these days. Just get back in tune with your body, and it will tell you what works FOR YOU and what doesn’t.

I’m not in this whole healthy eating, wellness and health stuff because I want to restrict myself – quite the opposite, in fact. I’m in it because I want to live abundantly.

I want to feel amazing in my skin, have the energy to run around the park seventeen times with my kids and totally be in love with myself.

And that lovely self? You and me, we deserve to eat tasty, happy and joyous food and share it with the people we love most – every single day.

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We’re chatting cooking techniques, dessert ideas, and everything in between. If you’re already a member, invite your friends to join us too!

Healthy Cranberry Apple Crisp Photo

Healthy Cranberry Apple Crisp Recipe

Nora Rušev
Warm up with a healthy cranberry apple crisp on a cold winter day: It’s easy to make with wholesome ingredients and tastes absolutely amazing!
4 from 3 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Cuisine Winter
Servings 6
Calories 286 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/4 cups Rolled Oats
  • 1/2 cup Almonds ground
  • 3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • pinch of Ground Nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/3 cup Coconut Oil
  • 1/3 cup Pure Maple Syrup
  • 5 medium Apple cored and diced
  • 1 cup Fresh Cranberries halved
  • 2 tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
  • 1 tablespoon Water
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • pinch of Ground Nutmeg

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch square baking dish with coconut oil.
  • Stir the oats, ground almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a medium bowl.
  • Add the coconut oil and maple syrup and stir until crumbs form. If your texture is off (this can be due to numerous reasons – age of the nuts, what kind of oats you have etc), sprinkle a bit more oats if it seems too sticky or a bit more coconut oil if it feels dry.
  • Cover and refrigerate.
  • Mix all ingredients for the filling together very well. You can use a bowl, but I usually just do this right in the baking dish to avoid more bowls to wash. Clever, right? Either way, spread the filling in your prepared dish.
  • Sprinkle the chilled topping evenly over the filling. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the apples are cooked. If the topping browns too quickly, cover loosely with aluminium foil about halfway through.
  • Once you take the crisp out of the oven, dig a little hole as an air vent on either side. This will help the filling to thicken while you let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm. We like it topped with coconut or sheep’s milk yogurt, but I bet ice cream works, too 😉

Nutrition

Calories: 286kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 2gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 11gSodium: 102mgFiber: 4gSugar: 27g
Keyword Apples, Baked, Baking, Cranberries, Crisps, Desserts, Family Meals and Snacks, Farm to Table, Healthy Eating, Winter
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
4 from 3 votes (3 ratings without comment)
Recipe Rating