As a Washington State native, the simple apple is, to me, more than just a delicious piece of fruit, but a nostalgic symbol of the good old days. The sweet aroma of a ripe apple is the quickest transportation to my childhood. It brings me to crisp fall days spent on beautiful San Juan Island in Northwest Washington. In the fall, my sisters and I spent a lot of time taking our horses on trail rides because we were giving them a rest from the intense training we had done for the county fair in August. Sometimes along the many island miles we covered on our horses we often would find a tree of wild apples just waiting to be discovered. It seemed so honest to be spending an afternoon with my horse and friend, feeding her apples that grew wild, on a small simple island. Such memories I cherish, and remember almost every time I bite into a juicy apple! Horses and apples just go together!
We always found many opportunities to get our hands on free apples, which were abundant in the fall! My mother was always an example to my sisters and me on how to mass produce food, especially free food. Many times we spent entire days making more things out of apples than you could imagine. But mostly, we made applesauce, and lots of it! It was a staple side dish at our dinner table. I always assumed that everyone had bowls of homemade applesauce with their dinner! Now that we have lived in Southern California for a little more than one year, I think we are beginning to run out of our applesauce stash. And now it is a treat!
I am putting up a recipe for a healthy way to enjoy apples, oats and almonds together, which are three of my favorite foods! It has no added sugar, but you can sweeten it a little if you want to. In my opinion, if you are using good ingredients it is better to be able to taste them, not mask them with sugar; another honest pleasure!
Healthy Apple Bake
10-12 Medium apples cored and sliced. We still debate leaving the peels or not.
½ c. butter
Pumpkin Pie Spice to taste (lots!)
Sauté the sliced apples in the butter until partially cooked. Place in a 9×13 pan.
4 cups Rolled Oats (not quick oats)
More Pumpkin Pie Spice
½ tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. stevia or some agave nectar or both
1 cup chopped or slivered almonds
½ cup Almond butter
½ cup butter
Melt the butters together and add your sweetening and the salt. For a nice flavor, you can roast the oats on a sheet pan under the broiler – briefly – stir and roast until golden. The almonds also really like to be roasted! Pour butter mixture over the oats and chopped almonds while stirring. Don’t forget to spice it up too! Sometimes I add a little warm water to this oat mixture to soften it a bit. Evenly spread the oats over the apples in the pan. Press down a little to make it stick together.
Bake at 350 degrees until the apples are simmering in the middle. They will be tender when you poke them. This is an especially lovely treat in the morning! Bon Appetite!
This apple treat sounds delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I look forward to trying it out.
I grew up in the Midwest, where apples aren’t quite as abundant, but still every fall when I was little my parents and I would trek up to an orchard in Wisconsin to pick apples, then bring them home and make applesauce with lots and lots of cinnamon. It’s been a LONG time since my mom and I last made applesauce, but I still remember it as the best I’ve ever tasted.