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Desserts

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

October 4, 2018 by Alexandra Daum
This date sweetened, vegan, and gluten-free apple crisp has a healthy hazelnut streusel topping over seasonal apples for an autumn dessert.
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Apple crumble in a baking dish with autumn foliage around.

This gluten-free apple crisp is vegan and date sweetened, and it’s the best thing that’s come out of my kitchen in a while. With only 10 ingredients, it comes together quickly and can be prepped in minutes. While this recipe uses hazelnut butter and meal, these can easily be substituted – see below for more on this.

For some more naturally sweetened seasonal fruit crisps, try my plum crisp with oatmeal streusel, gluten-free strawberry rhubarb crisp, and pear crisp with hazelnuts and chocolate.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

  • Oats: quick cook oats are better here – if you don’t have any, just pulse rolled oats a few times in a food processor to chop them up a bit.
  • Spices: add extra spices like cardamom and cloves if you like lots of spice.
  • Coconut oil: another oil that’s solid at room temperature, or butter, can replace the coconut oil if preferred.
  • Hazelnut meal: almond meal can be subbed for hazelnut, or use ground sunflower seeds. Make your own hazelnut meal by blending raw hazelnuts in a food processor until a fine meal forms.
  • Hazelnut butter: substitute almond, or use sunflower seed butter if you need a nut-free option.

Recipe Notes

A few notes about the crumble – the topping can burn quite quickly if you leave it in the oven too long, as dates have a tendency to do that, so keep an eye on it. If it is browning too much, loosely cover with a sheet of parchment paper (don’t tuck it in, just lay it over the baking dish) and that should stop it.

I either mash dates with a fork if they’re soft (less dishes) or blend them up in a food processor. If your dates are too hard, soak them in hot water for 30 minutes beforehand.

How to Store

Storage: the crisp will keep for a day, covered, at room temperature. For longer storage, refrigerate in a sealed container for 3-4 days. Note that the topping will soften as it’s stored.

Freezing: transfer the fully cooled apple crisp into an airtight container and freeze for up to three months.

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Expert Tips

  • Add lemon: if the apples you have are very sweet, add the juice of half a lemon to the apple mixture. I suggest using more tart baking apples if they’re available.
  • Sweeten to taste: the maple syrup in the apple filling is optional and I don’t usually add it. If you have a real sweet tooth, include it.
  • Don’t skip the nut butter: this improves the texture and makes the topping rich and much more flavourful, very similar to a butter streusel but with a nutty twist.

More Apple Desserts

Vegan Apple Cake
Apple Crumble Cake
Apple Crumble Bars
Healthy Baked Apples

If you make this Vegan Apple Crisp or any other vegetarian dessert recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

Yield: 8

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes minutes
Total Time 50 minutes minutes
5 from 1 vote

Ingredients

Metric – American
  • 1 kilogram apples diced (about ten apples)
  • 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup optional
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg*

Hazelnut Oat Crumble Topping

  • 70 grams hazelnut meal
  • 50 grams quick-cook oats**
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 100 grams soft dates mashed
  • 60 grams solid coconut oil
  • 50 grams hazelnut butter

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and set aside a baking dish (mine was about 30cmx20cm).
  • Core and dice the apples and place them into the baking dish. Add the maple syrup (if using) and spices, and mix until the apples are coated. 
    1 kilogram apples, 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg*
  • To make the crumble, mix the hazelnut meal, oats, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the mashed dates, coconut oil, and hazelnut butter, and use your hands to mix until a crumble forms. 
    70 grams hazelnut meal, 50 grams quick-cook oats**, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 100 grams soft dates, 60 grams solid coconut oil, 50 grams hazelnut butter
  • Top the apples with an even layer of crumble, and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the apples are cooked and the topping is golden. Serve warm with a little non-dairy yogurt, coconut whipped cream, or ice cream.

Notes

* I always use fresh nutmeg and grate it. If you use pre-ground nutmeg, add 1/4 teaspoon instead.
** Quick cook oats are better here – if you don’t have any, just pulse rolled oats a few times in a food processor to chop them up a bit.

* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.


Nutrition

Serving: 1 Calories: 288kcal Carbohydrates: 36g Protein: 4g Fat: 17g Saturated Fat: 7g Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g Monounsaturated Fat: 3g Sodium: 2mg Potassium: 298mg Fiber: 6g Sugar: 24g Vitamin A: 88IU Vitamin C: 6mg Calcium: 61mg Iron: 1mg

Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.

© Alexandra Daum
Course: Autumn, Dessert, Desserts
Cuisine: American
Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
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More Desserts:

Apple hazelnut cake on dark wooden surface.Vegan Apple Cake
Close up of pumpkin cinnamon rolls with frosting.Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Dramatically lit slice of carrot cake on a plate.Dairy-Free Carrot Cake
A stack of three oatmeal cookie chocolate ice cream sandwiches, decorated with raspberries and flowers.Three Ingredient Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Previous Post: « Vegan Black Bean Quinoa Burgers
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Comments

  1. MG says

    May 4, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    It turned out great! Crumble was awesome with nice texture and delicate hazelnut flavor.

    However, I found that 1 kg of apples was too much. I used an 8” by 8” baking dish and it was pretty much full with just over a pound of diced apples. Crumble was just enough to cover the apples.

    Reply

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