Hello hello and a belated happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! I got back this morning from a week’s holiday in St.Lucia! Sorry for just disappearing but I wasn’t organised enough to get any posts lined up for while I was away and wanted to take a complete break from blogging, social media, etc. during the holiday.
Anyway, we had a glorious time in paradise. Sun, sand, relaxation, good food and fun — everything I want in a holiday really! After a long overnight flight home with very little sleep I haven’t had the energy for anything much today so I’ve been catching up on what’s been happening in the blogosphere and planning more recipes of my own to share soon. Here’s one I made earlier…
I don’t think many could say they don’t like apple crumble – actually, my younger self would have said so, but as I’ve mentioned before, I was ultra fussy growing up and didn’t like ANY fruit, even in crumble or cakes, until I was in my late teens. But even if I wasn’t eating crumble as a child, it’s still associated in my mind with happy Sunday lunches as a family.
I’m sure nostalgia adds to its appeal, but warm, sweet and crunchy, I think I’d still find it comforting even without any memories attached.
For this recipe I’ve taken my beloved apple crumble (veganized of course) and combined it with another British favourite – shortbread! The buttery biscuit base is especially lovely against the soft apples and nutty crumble topping and takes the popular pudding to new heights.
This is a vegan and gluten-free dessert you can confidently serve to both herbivores and omnivores and expect rave reviews.
Especially topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a spoonful of custard (non-dairy), these Apple Crumble Shortbread Bars are certainly my idea of a perfect winter dessert.
Ingredients
- 1 C Oat flour
- 1/3 C Coconut flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 C Melted coconut oil
- 1/4 C Maple syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 1/4 C Coconut sugar
- 1/2 C Oats
- 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp Oat flour
- 1/4 C Chopped walnuts
- Pinch of salt
- 3 Tbsp Coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon (optional)
- 1/4 tsp Ground ginger (optional)
- Few gratings of fresh nutmeg (optional)
- 2 Tbsp melted Coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and lightly grease an 8 x 8 " pan with coconut oil.
- For the shortbread, combine the oat and coconut flours and salt in a medium bowl, then add the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla and mix together to form a dough. Press the mix evenly into the prepared pan and prick all over with a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden. Set aside to cool slightly until the other components are ready.
- Place the apples in a medium pan with the sugar. Cover and set over a low heat until the juice begins to come out of the apples. Slightly increase the heat and cook until the apples are soft, then set aside.
- Make the crumble by mixing all the dry ingredients together in a bowl (everything except the coconut oil), then add the melted coconut oil and stir to mix through.
- Spread the apples over the shortbread base, leaving behind any liquid in the pan as that will make your shortbread soggy. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the apples then return the pan to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.
- Leave to cool for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Serve with non-dairy ice cream or custard
I’ve got quite a few childhood desserts that I haven’t got around to veganizing yet but I’ll certainly share any successes.
What were your favourites growing up? Any special family recipes?
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It must be tough to return to winter after a warm holiday. Although these look great, Emma. I love how you used coconut flour. YAYAYA!
Hurrah for coconut flour! I always forget about it but love the flavour and texture it brings to baking.
It hasn’t been the easiest coming back to this cold and grey, but at least there’s Christmas to look forward to.
Wow! I can’t wait to try these! I will possibly make 1 change to try this unless you know for a fact it won’t work. I am going to use coconut nectar in the shortbread base instead of the maple syrup. And I think I might try serving with coconut whipped cream keeping that coconut theme going. Really appreciate this it’s perfect comfort food dessert! YUM!
Hope you enjoy them Leigh! The coconut nectar should be no problem at all, and coconut whip would definitely be wonderful!
Sounds like a lovely holiday if you went completely offline. I had so much time to think on our holiday a few months ago without tv or computers for most of the time. And I am with you on the nostalgia value of apple crumble - we had it a lot and I was always annoyed we didn’t have apricot crumble as much but I now I have grown to appreciate it more. So those crumble bars look delicious
It was quite liberating being so disconnected - not that I could do it forever!
Apricot crumble is so delicious too. There’s only a short window when fresh apricots are good here though so we didn’t have it often growing up. Apple and apple & blackberry were our most typical.
Glad you had a awesome holiday! Wow… These bars look amazing!
Thank you Ana. Hope you get to give the recipe a try!
They look delicious! Gad you had a good break in the sun
Thanks Sarojini. It was beautiful over there.
This looks SO GOOD! I’m glad you enjoyed your holiday, I can’t wait for Christmas to come so I can go visit my family and take a much-needed break.
I was a massively fussy eater (way worse than you!), and practically survived on pasta and scrambled eggs on toast until my late teens. I’m still a bit fussy when it comes to apples and cooked apples especially, but I can’t resist a good apple crumble. It’s just so, so comforting, and a very British thing, too - I’d never had any until I moved to the UK, but it’s so lovely served with custard
Your former fussiness makes me feel a bit less embarrassed about mine. Good thing we’ve changed our ways! Can’t believe I missed out on apple crumble & custard all those years!
I love the shortbread twist on these and that there is coconut flour involved. My new favourite
Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation! Lucky you, you got to delay winter by a bit more than the rest of us!
It was a wonderful break - it’s been a bit tough coming back to the cold and grey in England…
Glad you like the look of the recipe. I love coconut flour too but had been neglecting it recently.
What a great combination! I love shortbread and paired with the apples…perfect!
Thanks Annie. I’m a shortbread nut - as you can probably tell from the 2 posts back to back!
Welcome home Emma! What an amazing week away you had. I’m so glad you took the opportunity to take a complete break, immerse yourself in paradise & recharge the batteries
These Apple Crumble Shortbread Bars sound absolutely divine ♥ I know my family would love them! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe x
Thank you Sharon. It was a little difficult to disconnect at first but I soon relaxed into the holiday and am so glad I did
Ooooooo! This looks gorgeous! I love apple crumble and the shortcake base gives it a lovely yummy twist! Glad you had a lively holiday!
Who doesn’t love apple crumble, right?! These bars were a big hit.
Welcome back Emma! I was thinking you’d been a bit quiet and am glad to hear it was due to a holiday rather than anything less pleasant - I’m also glad you had a good time and that you could unplug for a bit.
These bars look delicious and seem to take the best of crumble and the best of shortbread and mix them into one delicious treat
Thank you Kari! It was definitely a good break. Though I feel more behind than ever now!
Crumble topping looks delicious! Hope you had a great trip!
Thanks Lauren. The crumble topping is wonderfully nutty and “buttery”!
What a lovely combo!! and what an amazing sounding holiday…. envious!!
My favourite desserts were always trifle and lemon meringue pie. I can’t see a way if veganizing the meringue BUT the trifle is on my agenda to create this xmas and I have my work cut out to make it on a par with my mum’s classic version!!
It was a pretty wonderful holiday - I’m sure you would have loved all the sporty things on offer there
I don’t think I’ve ever had trifle or lemon meringue pie! Definitely interested to see your take on them though.
That looks amazing! Love the sound of the shortbread base especially!
Thanks Laura. I love shortbread - as you’ll see by my 2 shortbread posts in a row!
I somehow missed this post Emma! Anyways, these look delicious and simple. Apples are my very favorite fruit and I love apple crisps, so why not bars?! Yum! I’m sure you had such a lovely trip and I bet it’s hard to come back, but I see you have picked right up where you left off…with this delicious dessert!
I made your lovely Apple crumble bars & served them with warm home-made vegan vanilla pouring custard,..’zo delicious & fabulous even! Yummmm! X
these look outstanding. i can almost taste them.
So happy to hear you had a wonderful holidays, breaks are good to have and it’s nice to be offline from everything else! I loved your St. Lucia photo from your Instagram feed, will you be sharing more pictures from St. Lucia?
What a brilliant British dish, the biscuit base looks heavenly yummy, plus the apples and crumble topping…everything looks so good!
I don’t know if I have any favorite childhood desserts, but I used to like filled pineapple shortbread and dorayaki!
Filled pineapple shortbread? I’d love to see a recipe for those! It was a fantastic holiday, thank you. I actually didn’t take many pictures while I was away though….I’ll just have to go back to see it again!
Yum! They look delish!
Mmmm those sound amazing! Shortbread and apple crumble sounds like a great compromise to me:)
Glad you’ve decided as a grown up that apple crumble is yummy!!!!
It’s a frequent dessert in our home
Best dessert I have ever tried
High praise indeed! So glad you loved them
Looks gorgeous Emma 😀 I left a link to this recipe on my latest blog post ‘vegan raspberry chia bars’
x