This week, I’m sharing another not-a-recipe recipe, which is my kind of recipe. Recipe development is not my lane though I love to buy food, prepare food, and eat food. I’d like a better name for this dish, please send any and all suggestions my way.

It’s apple season and this is one of my favorite ways to eat fruit in the winter when berries are out of season. This flavor combination reminds me of apple pie (yes, really). My grandmother’s apple pie was a favorite growing up — it was legendary in our family, and also not a health food.

This is my healthy version of apple pie. If you want to serve it as a dessert, it’s likely there is a fairly healthy plant-based crust/crumble recipe online — like this one.

What’s in it?

1 apple
3 small dates
Cinnamon — sprinkle to taste
Generous squeeze of fresh lemon — to taste
1 tsp cacao nibs (optional!)

Why is it delicious?

Crisp apple, sweet and gooey dates, with apple pie flavors of cinnamon and lemon. Cacao nibs add a hint of chocolate and additional crunch.

How I serve it

Cut apple and dates into bite-sized pieces and add to your serving bowl. Add a squeeze of lemon to coat the apples, sprinkle cinnamon, and serve!

Alternatively, this would be great on top of cooked or soaked oat groats [recipe here]. I’ll talk more about groats vs. processed grains in an upcoming post.

Nutrition Information

[source: cronometer]

1 large apple with skin, 3 tbsp fresh dates, juice from 1/4 of a lemon, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cacao nibs

Calories: 180
Fiber: 7.6g
Sugars: 33.2g of natural, whole fruit sugars
Fat: 2g
Protein: 1.1g
Vitamin C: 26% of daily value (DV)
Manganese: 20% of DV
Potassium: 16% of DV
+ lots of other vitamins and minerals, the list is too long to include the details here

Ingredient notes

• I like Honeycrisp apples, but use whatever red apple you like, or that’s on sale

• I buy my dates from Bautista Organic Family Farm in California because they are delicious, I know when they were picked (late summer, every year), and it makes me feel good to support an organic family farm. These dates are incredible. They ship across the U.S. and to Canada. I buy the ‘Royal Treatment’ wet-pack which has khadrawy, halawy, honey, and medjool varieties.

• If you are using medjool dates, which are larger than other varieties, you could use 1-2 in this recipe.

Enjoy!

Have you tried this dish? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

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