PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES: BAKING TIME: 30 MINUTES SERVES: 4
This healthy and quick take on baked apples is so reminiscent of the days I spent with my Granny who loved to bake with fruit. I made these with the exotic flavours of cinnamon, Medjool dates for extra natural sweetness and the caramel essence of pecans, to create a dairy, gluten and refined sugar free dessert that keeps the guilt at bay. Really it is such a healthy sweet indulgence – who dares resist!
NUTRITIONAL BITES
Apples contain powerful antioxidants that prevent oxidation of cell membrane fats. When it comes to our cardiovascular system, this is especially important, because fat oxidation in the membrane of our cells that line our blood vessels is a primary risk factor for clogging of the arteries and other cardiovascular issues.
Ingredients
4 apples (firmer varieties are best - I used Cortland)
½ cup of pecans, finely chopped
Rind of one small lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons coconut sugar
2 teaspoons coconut oil, unmelted
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 Medjool date, diced into small ‘pea-sized’ pieces
1 tablespoon of raisins
Let’s Bake!
Heat the oven to 325F.
De-core each apple leaving a generous hole for the filling.
Mix all the other ingredients together in a small bowl to make the apple filling, making sure the coconut oil is broken down well.
Using a small spoon and clean fingers, stuff the filling into each apple hole compacting it down to get as much inside as possible.
Place the apples on parchment paper and slid into the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.
Take the tray out of the oven and pop the apples on a serving plate, spooning any sweet apple juice that remains on the parchment paper over each apple.
I like to add a dollop of my sweet cashew cream to top it all off. So yummy and guilt-free!