Chai Spiced Apple Pear Crisp

Apples and pears are at their best this time of the year. One of my favorite things to make is a baked crisp with flavorful honeycrisp apples.  A crisp is less fussy to make than a pie, but tastes just as wonderful, especially warm from the oven with ice cream.  I like to combine some warming spices, like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves for a crisp that is both aromatic and tasty.  This recipe for Chai Spiced Apple Pear Crisp is gluten free and vegan. It is safe to serve to those with dairy or wheat allergies or those who follow a vegan diet.

Author: Amy Lyons O’Neil

Amy has worked for Fresh and Natural Foods since 2006 contributing to the variety of healthful foods we offer. She graduated with a degree in studio art from Bethel University in 2007, but in her senior year of college, found that her passion was with the art of food. She later used her photography and culinary skills to create a vegan food and recipe blog, Fragrant Vanilla Cake. She has also written 3 cookbooks. She specializes in vegan and vegetarian recipes. Local, fresh and organic food has always been her focus in whatever she creates.

Twitter Facebook

Servings: 4 Servings | Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Ready in: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 3 large organic honeycrisp apples (or other tart apples), cut into small chunks
• 3 large organic d'anjou pears (or bartlett), cut into small chunks
• 4 Tbsp maple sugar or brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• Topping:
• 6 Tbsp Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour
• 3 Tbsp maple sugar or brown sugar
• 4 Tbsp cold Earth Balance vegan butter
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free old fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cup large flake coconut
• Two 5 or 6 inch wide deep dish ovenproof bowls or pie plates

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with the rack at the center position. Place a baking sheet lined with foil on the rack. Spray two 5 or 6 inch wide pie plates or bowls with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, toss together the apples, maple sugar, 1/4 cup flour, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, maple extract, vanilla, and 1/4 cup flour. Spoon into prepared bowls or pie plates, and cover with foil. Place plates on baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes until fruit is cooked through and bubbling.

Meanwhile, to make the topping, combine the flour, sugar, oats, butter and salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, or 2 knives, cut butter into the flour until it is in pea sized chunks and clumping together. Add oats and coconut. With hands, squeeze the mixture together forming larger chunks as well as incorporating the oats and coconut until evenly distributed as you go. Place in the fridge until the crisps are ready to top.

When the fruit has baked for 35 minutes, and is bubbling, remove from the oven and top with the crisp mixture. Place back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until lightly brown and toasted (keep a close eye on it as coconut burns very quickly). Remove from oven and let cool until warm…enjoy!