I have the perfect dessert recipe for you today – Paleo apple crisp! Get the oven ready and put your apron on. You won’t want to miss out on this recipe. This recipe is the perfect way to use up all the apples from your yard, local farmer’s market or even take advantage of the great prices of apples at the grocery store in the fall!
This apple crisp is buttery, sweet, and crunchy. The arrowroot starch helps the cooked apples achieve a glossy, thick sauce while the honey sweetens it just enough. We served ours with vanilla ice cream and it was fantastic, but a coconut milk vanilla ice cream would be excellent as well. I also love to just pour warm milk or cream over apple crisp too.
When I was younger I tried apple pie once and did not like it at all. It was years later my best friend had me try her mom’s “famous” apple crisp recipe, and I LOVED IT! That was when I realized I am an apple crisp kind of girl – but not an apple pie kind of girl. I like how the apple crisp caramelizes and the texture is more appealing to me; the crunchy crust combined with the soft apples is a perfect combination in my opinion.
This would also make a good starting point for other crisps recipes, such as strawberry rhubarb crisp or a berry crisp and would taste fantastic in a dutch oven. Do you prefer apple pie or apple crisp? Why? Share your thoughts below and enjoy this apple crisp!
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PrintPaleo Apple Crisp Recipe
This apple crisp is buttery, sweet, and crunchy. The arrowroot starch * helps the cooked apples achieve a glossy, thick sauce while the honey sweetens it just enough. We served ours with vanilla ice cream and is was fantastic, but a coconut milk * vanilla ice cream would be excellent as well.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 65 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Paleo
Ingredients
Apple Base
- 6 Granny Smith Apples
- 1/2 Lemon
- 3 1/2 Tbl Arrowroot Starch *
- 1 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 cup Honey
- 6 tsp Honey (for drizzling)
- 2 Tbl Butter
Almond Topping
- 2 cups Almond Flour *
- 1/2 tsp Real Salt *
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 8 Tbl Butter (cold, 1 stick)
- 2 1/2 Tbl Honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 6 (½ C.) ramekins, place on a baking sheet, and set aside.
- Peel and core the apples and cut into a medium dice. Place diced apples in a large mixing bowl and toss with the juice of ½ a lemon.
- Sprinkle the arrowroot starch, nutmeg, and cinnamon over the apples and toss well to coat. Add the ½ C. honey to the apples and toss to coat.
- Divide the apple mixture between prepared ramekins, packing the apples down as needed. Place 1 teaspoon of butter on top of each apple filled dish and top each teaspoon of butter with 1 teaspoon of honey.
- Bake in preheated oven for 32 minutes.
- While the apples are baking, prepare the almond topping:
- Place the almond flour, salt, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Cut the cold butter into very small cubes and add to almond flour. Cut the butter cubes into flour until they resemble coarse crumbs. Drizzle the 2 ½ T. of honey over the mixture and work it in with your fingers. Mixture should form very large clumps.
- When the apples have baked for about 32 minutes, remove them from the oven and divide the almond mixture evenly over the tops of each ramekin.
- Place the dishes back in the oven on the top rack and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, or until the topping starts to turn lightly brown and the filling is bubbling.
- Serve with a vanilla coconut milk ice cream.
Keywords: Paleo, buttery, sweet, crunchy
Caribbean Paleo Jerk Chicken Recipe
Kate
So good! I didn’t have ramekins and it still turned out fine. Still beautiful even!
★★★★★
Danielle Phillips
Made in a casserole dish instead of ramekins. Took about 18 minutes to get top browned.
★★★★★
Rebecca Baron
Good idea, thanks for letting me know how to bake it.
Joyce B
Apple crisp, please! When I was about 12 or 13, I came up with an apple crisp recipe that I made for my family–Mom and Dad taught me to cook and bake when I was eight–and my brother loved it so much, he’d promise to do just about anything in order to get me to make it for dessert :-). Your recipe is much better than mine that I did use for about 50 years, but just this year, I’ve been diagnosed with so many food allergies and intolerances, I’ve been working hard to completely change my diet, eliminating many things I used to love. This recipe works well with what I can have, and I can hardly wait to make it tomorrow so I can have it for the Sabbath on Saturday!
★★★★★
Rebecca Baron
That’s so great you started cooking at a young age and I’m so glad I have this recipe so you could relive a memory from your past.
Sandi Ramirez
Thanks for the recipe. Being Celiac I eat grain, dairy & refined sugar free so I definitely would sub in coconut oil for the butter and even trade out some of the honey for organic maple syrup. . Can’t wait to make this tomorrow.
Rebecca
I hope it worked out for you. I would love to know how they turned out!
Diane Carroll
Hi, just a question, I thought a true paleo diet did not include butter? ,grass fed or otherwise???
Rebecca
That’s one of those gray areas. I personally think it’s fine, but you could replace it with ghee, coconut butter or coconut oil.
Mara (at Super Savings)
This looks delicious!! I would tweak a couple things to make it work for me (I’m following a Trim Healthy Mama way of eating), but most Paleo recipes are a great starting point!
Erin @ The Speckled Palate
Oh, man. I absolutely cannot wait to try this out because it looks and sounds AMAZINGLY delicious and perfect for a hot summer’s day! Apple crisps make me think of the summers when I was a kid, and I love the idea of updating the recipe to make it a bit healthier and paleo-friendly, too!
Rebecca
Glad you like our recipe! Let us know how it goes after you have tried it!
Melanie E
I prefer apple crisp because of the texture. I know there is a yummy gummy texture on the underside of the pie (I like that too) but the crunchy in the smooth is just as good and it seems you can be much more creative when making a crisp. I’ve been hearing about this Paleo diet–something else I guess I need to research. I am a big think tank. It’s so difficult to change your lifestyle unless you are around others emulating what you would like to do. AND to live near the resources to be able to buy “grass-fed butter” Thanksfor the recipe.
dina
yummy and healthy dessert!
Sara
This recipe looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!!!
★★★★