Apple-Cranberry Crumble

OK, here is yet one more recipe from Clean Living Magazine, an Apple-Cranberry Crumble. I had some Granny Smith apples to use up and since the day was cool, windy and rainy, an easy crumble seemed like the perfect comfort food. This recipe, (like these chocolate cookies I made from the same magazine), uses sucanat, a pure, cleaner sweetener so it makes for a healthier crumble.

Apple-Cranberry Crumble

Clean Living Magazine, Jan/Feb 2009

(Serves 12)

olive oil cooking spray

1/3 cup sucanat

2 Tbsp whole-wheat flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin

2 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup maple flakes

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 Tbsp canola oil

1 Tbsp 100% apple juice

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly coat an 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sucanat, flour and cinnamon; add apple slices and cranberries, mix together and spread evenly in prepared baking pan. 

In a medium bowl, mix together oats, maple flakes, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine oil and apple juice; then add it to oat mixture, distributing evenly until mixture appears crumbly. Sprinkle oat mixture over apples and cranberries, and bake for 35 minutes until bubbly. Dessert may be served warm or chilled.  

Nutrients per 2 1/2 x 2-inch square serving: Calories: 100, Total Fat: 2g, Sat Fat: 0g, Omega-3s: 160mg, Omega 6s:340mg, Carbs: 20g, Fiber: 2g, Sugars: 15g, Protein: 1g, Sodium: 45mg, Cholesterol: 0mg 

Notes/Results: I made a few changes to adapt to the ingredients I had on hand. The recipe calls for fresh cranberries but not wanting to go buy them, I used 1/2 cup of mixed dried cranberries and dried blueberries and used 4 smallish Granny Smith apples instead. I guess I wasn't careful about reading the recipe and didn't notice it called for maple flakes in the topping until I was making it. Since I didn't have any on hand, I substituted about 1/8 cup of sucanat instead and I also added 1/8 cup of ground flax seed for the extra omega-3s. It was a great crumble, lots of great flavor and texture and again, not guilt inducing, even with a little low-fat frozen yogurt. I would make this again with the same ingredients or change up the fruit for some different flavors. One note; I am all for reducing portions, but I think it is more realistic to get nine servings out of an 8 x 8 pan rather than 12 servings. Still it remains a very reasonable calorie count for the slightly larger piece.