Tag: apples (Page 1 of 6)

Simple Pear Apple Crisp

November 7, 2025 / Jenny / 0 Comments

This irresistible Pear Apple Crisp recipe hits the spot on a chilly fall or winter evening. Spiced pears and apples are baked with a rich streusel topping of brown sugar, oats, and pecans, creating a dessert that is fruity and satisfying.

While apples get a lot of glory (and deservedly so) in baking, pears are the unsung heroes of fall and winter fruits. Their tender texture and naturally sweet flavor blends beautifully with the tart apples and when baked with aromatic spices like cinnamon, and nutmeg, a delicious combination emerges from the oven.

Cozy Oatmeal Baked Apples

January 6, 2017 / Jenny / 18 Comments

Fill your kitchen with the iconic smell of baking apples and cinnamon with these cozy oatmeal baked apples. Cored apples are filled with an oat-brown sugar-cinnamon mixture and then baked until the apples are soft and the oatmeal mixture has a cake-like consistency. The moistness of the baked apples surrounds the oatmeal mixture to make a heart-warming dessert or breakfast that is full of nutrients and delicious comfort.

I love all types of baked apple-cinnamon recipes, and this one is a bit different to me because the apple is stuffed with a filling inside of it instead of sliced and used as a filling. Because it’s a bit different, it makes a festive dessert or breakfast, especially served with some vanilla ice cream or drizzled with some maple syrup, or even caramel sauce. We had them for breakfast this morning straight up without any added toppings, and they were so good!

I added two new cookbooks to my collection over the holidays, and I adapted this recipe from one of them–Savor by Ilona Oppenheim. I love the photos in this cookbook, and the recipes are natural, beautiful, and seasonal. I made a few changes from the recipe in the book to fit the tastes of my family–but I am so grateful for the idea and the basic framework. This is a dessert/breakfast that is easy to make and comes together quite quickly, plus you can feel good about the wholesome ingredients.

The holiday season is over now, and it is time to get back to work, time for the kids to go back to school and indoor soccer, and hopefully time for me to put some positive new intentions and habits into practice in my little corner of the world. We spent a few days up in northern Michigan over the New Year, and it was so refreshing and invigorating to be up in that cold, clean air!

Getting away from the routine allowed us to have some good family time when we weren’t rushed or pulled in a bunch of different directions. We played some long games of Pokémon Monopoly (thanks to my son 🙂 ), went sledding, and walked along the snowy beach. I loved all the lights in town on the dark evenings–lights in the trees, lights on the shops and restaurants, lights reflected in the water along the beach, and especially the fireworks over the lake on New Year’s Eve.

This is such a good time of year for introspectionand for making home a warm and cozy place. Walking in the cold air clears the head. It is also definitely the time of year to make warm, nourishing things in the kitchen. These oatmeal baked apples hit the spot this morning. Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great weekend, and stay warm! I will be sharing this recipe over at Angie’s virtual potluck, Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Quinn @ Dad What’s 4 Dinner and Monika @ Everyday Healthy Recipes.

Cozy Oatmeal Baked Apples

Servings: 6
Time: about 20 minutes of prep time, about 45 minutes of baking time
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Ingredients:

6 medium to large apples (I like Honeycrisp or Jonagold for this)
1 cup of old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt
1 and 1/3 cups of milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a fork. Make sure your butter is melted.

In another bowl, combine the milk, vanilla extract, egg, and melted butter. Stir well. Add the milk mixture to the bowl with the oat mixture, and stir well with a wooden spoon.

With a paring knife, cut off the tops of the apples. Set the tops aside. With the same knife, carefully cut around the core and cut out the core (you can also use an apple corer). Scoop out the seeds and rest of the core with a spoon, if necessary. Leave 1/2 inch at the bottom of the apples intact, with the holes in the core about an inch wide.

Place the cored apples on the prepared baking dish. Spoon the oatmeal mixture into the cavities of the apples, filling them as full as you can. Place the tops back on the apples for baking. If you have oat mixture left over, you can bake it in a small baking pan and bake it alongside the apples. (I put mine in a min-loaf pan and it made a cute little cake-like loaf).

Bake the stuffed apples in your 350 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the oat mixture is set. These taste best warm, but can also be served at room temperature. Enjoy!

Apple Crunch Bars

November 18, 2016 / Jenny / 7 Comments

Are you bored with your breakfast and snack choices? These apple crunch bars are the perfect way to change things up a bit while still delivering great nutrition and deliciousness. A base and topping of oats, pistachios, brown sugar, and whole wheat flour surround a cozy apple-cinnamon filling for a healthy treat that tastes like a cross between an apple granola bar and a bite of apple crisp.

I posted a recipe for cranberry almond bars about a year ago, and these apple crunch bars are similar to those, except for the obvious change in filling, and this time I used pistachios in the topping instead of almonds. The filling is a version of my basic homemade applesauce recipe, and the base and topping are loosely adapted from a recipe I found in Real Simple magazine in September of 2015.

I love these apple crunch bars! The apple-cinnamon combination is always so cozy and comforting, especially when the apples are bubbling away in a pot on the stove. And the crunch mixture is so tasty, so full of salty-sweet flavor from the pistachios and brown sugar, with such a crunchy, crumbly texture that mixes so well with a fruit filling. They really are a great breakfast choice, snack, or even a guilt-free dessert, if that’s what you are looking for.

In a few days (I can’t believe it is coming up so quickly!) my family will be celebrating Thanksgiving. It is the time of year when we consciously think about what we are thankful for, about gratitude. I recently checked out a book from the library about the spirituality of gratitude, because it is something I want to cultivate more deeply in my life. It is easy to be grateful when things are going well, and more challenging to feel gratitude when things don’t go our way, or when we are struggling. I am enjoying (though it is sometimes really hard!) going further into this practice.

I was raking leaves yesterday afternoon, and our dog kept sitting right in the middle of the tarp I was using to drag the leaves to the back of our property. Then when I finally got him off of the tarp, he would run alongside me as I was dragging it and either step on it or grab it with his mouth and start tugging. He didn’t want me to get anything accomplished! He wanted those leaves to fly and scatter with the wind. I love that about our dog. I hope you all have a great weekend! Antonia @ Zoale and Petra @ Food Eat Love are co-hosting Angie’s Fiesta Friday this week, and I look forward to sharing this recipe over there.

Apple Crunch Bars

Servings: 12 bars
Time: about 30 minutes preparation and about 40 minutes baking time
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Ingredients:

For the filling:

3 medium sized apples, diced
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of water

For the base and topping:

1 cup of old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of pistachios, shelled (raw almonds or walnuts may be substituted, if desired)
3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt (optional)
8 tablespoons (or 1/2 cup or 1 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup of brown sugar, packed

Directions:

For the filling:

Wash, peel, and dice the apples. Place them in a small or medium pot, along with the vanilla, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer on low for about 20 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Let the filling cool slightly, then mash it with a potato masher so it becomes somewhat smooth. Let it cool while a bit more and the filling will thicken a bit as it cools.

For the base and topping:

While the apples are simmering, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8 inch square baking dish with two crisscrossed pieces of parchment paper, leaving an overhang of paper on all sides, pressing the paper down inside the dish.

In a blender or food processor, pulse or puree the oats, whole wheat flour, pistachios, baking powder, and salt until finely ground. Transfer to a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in the brown sugar. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the butter and continue to work it in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs about the size of a pea, and everything is well combined.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the crunch mixture for the topping. Press the remaining crunch mixture into the baking dish, using a straight-sided glass or measuring cup to pack it down evenly.

Spread the apple filling over the bottom crust, distributing it evenly. Scatter the reserved 1/2 cup crunch mixture evenly over the top. Bake until golden, and set in the middle about 35 to 45 minutes.

When it is done, let it cool completely (the cooler it is, the better the bars will hold their shape–I can’t always wait till it’s totally cooled!). Then, holding the overhanging parchment paper, lift the crunch out and transfer it to a cutting board and cut with a sharp knife into twelve bars. Enjoy!