Gluten-Free Vegan Cinnamon Apple Crumble

This Cinnamon Apple Crumble recipe is SO delicious your friends and family will never know it’s gluten-free or vegan, with minimal sugar! Autumn is the perfect time to make this Cinnamon Apple Crumble treat since apple season is upon us.

Apples pack a host of healthy phytonutrients in a small package. High in antioxidants, apples contain 10% of the recommended daily vitamin C. And they help protect against cancer as well.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

According to Jonny Bowden’s book 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, among other benefits, apples lower the risk of heart attack by 32%. A 2001 study from Cornell University showed phytochemicals in apple skins reduced the growth of colon cancer cells by 43%. And the National Cancer Institute reports flavonoids found in apples can reduce lung cancer risk by 50%.

With health benefits like these, who wouldn’t want to eat their daily apple via this super-tasty Cinnamon Apple Crumble recipe for breakfast or dessert? And all the cinnamon helps to keep your blood sugar in check as you eat this yummy treat too.

Why buy in-season organic apples?

Apples top the “Dirty Dozen” list, so are best eaten organic if at all possible. Apples in the U.S. are typically in-season from late summer through late fall. After that most U.S. apples either come from far-off places like New Zealand or are refrigerated for months on end. So whatever apples you get in the winter-spring seasons either have a huge carbon footprint or are months old and not very fresh.

I love a good apple, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m an apple snob. I like my apples fresh and ripe, crispy, and crunchy, not pithy or mushy. I always buy organic, and try to buy from local farmer’s markets or as close to the source as possible, hand-picking each one to ensure no bruises or dull skin.

However, when provisioning my boat to sail to San Francisco with several of our crew recently, I also wanted the biggest bang for my buck. So I succumbed to buying a bag of organic apples instead of hand-selecting each individual apple. The old adage “you get what you pay for” rang true. As soon as I un-bagged the apples to stow them in our produce hammock, I had to toss 2 rotten ones right away. And the rest of the bunch already looked bruised, dull, and pithy. Sigh…

So what to do with all these apples that were already going bad and the guys couldn’t eat up anyway? Make gluten-free Cinnamon Apple Crumble of course! 🙂

Gluten-free Vegan Cinnamon Apple Crumble

Print Recipe

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American, Gluten-Free

Servings 12

Ingredients

Ingredients for Filling

• 5-6 cups organic apples sliced (4-5 large apples or 8-12 small apples)
• 2 lemons juiced
• 2 TBSP maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 TBSP tapioca flour
• 1 TBSP cinnamon
• ½ cup dried blueberries raisins, dried cranberries, or pomegranate seeds

Ingredients for Topping

• ¼ cup coconut sugar
• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats Bob's Redmill GF Oats work great
• ½ cup almond meal
• ⅓ cup chopped pecans
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Mix the sliced apples with lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, tapioca flour, and cinnamon until apples are well coated.
• Pour apple mixture into glass 9 x 13" baking dish. Sp
• Sprinkle top with dried blueberries (raisins, dried cranberries, or pomegranate seeds also work well.)
• Using the same bowl as the fruit mixture, mix all of the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top covering all the apples.
• Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until apples are bubbling and topping is toasty-brown.

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Adiction