I love a warm, delicious treat that is pretty heart healthy. I’ve shared my personal story about heart problems, and I do my best to try to stay as healthy as I can, even though I don’t always succeed. But, a dessert like this does help make things a little bit easier. Featuring oatmeal, proven to be heart healthy, and freshly sliced apples, which are a serving of fruit, this is an all-around healthy dish that takes only a few minutes to prepare. Plus, as a dessert for one, it’s easy to make just as much as you need and not have any extras to tempt you!
My version of this apple crisp starts with a teaspoon of butter in the bottom of the dish cut into cubes. Now, if you want to make it a little more heart healthy, you can substitute coconut oil, which is a little bit easier on the heart, but what can I say? I like my butter! For this apple crisp, I also used single-serve tart dishes that are oven-safe. Remember, you’re making dessert for one here, but you can always use a larger dish and just multiply ingredients by the number of people you’re serving.
Next, slice half of a green apple into thin slices (about 1/4 inch). Save the other half for snacking on later, freeze it or dehydrate it, or make a friend a second apple crisp!
Fan out your apples on top of your butter. I will note that I mentioned to cut them 1/4″ thick. Cutting them thinner will result in softer apples, and cutting them thicker will result in crunchier, slightly underdone apples, so go with your preference there. I’ve found that 1/4″ is the perfect balance between soft and crunchy for my family’s tastes.
Top your apple slices with instant oats. Full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium, oatmeal is incredibly heart healthy. Studies have shown that eating it can reduce LDL cholesterol, and help to keep arteries clear, which is the perfect excuse to eat this dessert (or breakfast. Or anytime).
I like a little brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves on top of the oatmeal to sweeten the dish and help enhance the flavor, but you can use a little bit of a favorite sweetener like Truvia to lighten up the dish a bit!
Finish off with a little bit more butter (or coconut oil if you’ve decided to go that route) and you’re ready to stick your apple crisp in the oven! Only 20 minutes in the oven takes it from this to…
…this beautiful, decadent, not-so-bad-for-you dessert for one. What I love most is that because it’s got oatmeal and apples, it definitely counts as breakfast, too, which means you could get away with enjoying this literally any time of day.
Add a nice scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt (or ice cream, if you’re not a froyo fan), and you’ve got the perfect treat for one.
I dare you to try and resist this delicious, heart-healthy apple crisp. You can’t, can you? It’s so perfect, easy, and delicious that you should go make one. Now. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Isn’t it heavenly?
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 granny smith (or otherwise tart) apple, sliced
- 1/2 C instant oats
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves to taste
- Place 1 Tbsp cubed butter in the bottom of an oven-safe individual sized baking dish.
- Layer sliced apples, oats, brown sugar, and spices on top of butter.
- Top with additional Tbsp of butter, then bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until apples are tender.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt if desired.
- Substitute coconut oil for butter to make recipe more heart healthy. Also consider using sweetener instead of brown sugar to add sweetness (be mindful-- sweetener to brown sugar is not a 1:1 replacement, so check the label of your sweetener to see how much to use in place of the brown sugar).
- Dish can be easily multiplied and made in a larger baking dish to serve more people.
Now I know exactly what to do with that one apple I have left in my fruit bowl! Dessert for tomorrow is covered — thank you! And thanks for sharing this delicious recipe at Inspire Me Mondays. Have a wonderful week!
Bridget/The Recipe Wench recently posted…Zucchini Fritters – Third Time’s a Charm!
This is great for when you have just one last apple! Enjoy!
Yum yum yum! I love these individual portioned breakfasts…er, desserts. Make just what you need and don’t have to worry about leftovers. 🙂 I hope you can stop on by and share this or any other recipe with us on Five Friday Finds!
CJ Huang recently posted…Five Friday Finds #176
It’s perfect for either meal– oatmeal and fruit TOTALLY counts as breakfast! 😉
Just what I need!