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Get ready to treat yourself with this easy-to-make apple crisp without gluten. It’s so good that it can be served without anyone knowing the difference!
The Best Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
This apple crisp has all the elements of an apple pie minus the gluten and the hard work of rolling out a gluten-free pie crust.
The apples bake perfectly in their own natural sugars and taste divine with warm spices and maple syrup. As far as a crisp topping goes, this one is a masterpiece with the crumbly texture that goes swell with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Recipes like this offer everything we all love about the classic dessert made safe to enjoy by those that must eat gluten-free.
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Ingredients
To make this easy gluten-free apple crisp, you will need:
- Apples: select firm apples with no bruises or brown spots. The best varieties for apple crisp are mentioned below.
- Apple pie spice: a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Maple syrup: goes into the topping and filling and can be swapped with honey.
- Coconut oil: used in the crumble topping to make it crisp and delicious. Butter can also be used.
- Walnuts: for extra crunch, this could also be pecans.
- Oat flour: a gluten-free flour you can make at home.
- Unsweetened coconut flakes: adds texture.
- Vanilla extract: who doesn’t love the combination of vanilla and apple?
- Salt: non-negotiable! It brings out the natural sweetness and tangy flavors.
*You’ll find the ingredient measurements in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Related: How to Make Oat Flour
Best Apples for an Apple Crisp
While you can use ANY apple to make this dessert, the best options include Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and Honey Crisp! Their crisp texture can handle the oven’s heat without turning into apple sauce, and their sweet-tart flavor gets even better as the sugars caramelize.
How to Make an Apple Crisp with Oat Flour
Grab those ingredients, tie on a kitchen apron, and let’s make an apple crisp worthy of first place at the county fair!
- Prep
Wash, peel, and slice the apples. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9-inch baking dish. - Make the apple filling
Toss the apples with the apple pie spice and maple syrup. Transfer to the baking dish. - Prepare the crumble topping
Process the melted coconut oil, walnuts, oat flour, maple syrup, unsweetened coconut flakes, vanilla extract, apple pie spice, and salt in a food processor until everything breaks down into a crumbly paste. - Bake to perfection
Spread the topping over the apples and bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the apple center is bubbling. - Cool off
Allow the apple crisp to cool for 30 minutes before serving (otherwise, you run the chance of scalding everyone’s mouth).
Keeping it Crispy
Before baking, the apple crisp topping should resemble coarse wet sand crumbles. If the topping is too wet and doesn’t hold the crumble, place it in the refrigerator to chill for 5 to 10 minutes before distributing it over the apples. Otherwise, it will bake into a doughy consistency.
Make sure you don’t scrimp on the oil or melted butter either- it’s the key to a good crisp texture.
Substitutions and Swaps
For a perfect topping and apple filling, it’s important to use all the ingredients listed and their specified amounts. Since this isn’t a flour-based recipe, the amount of oil, walnuts, oat flour, and coconut flakes are exact and shouldn’t be altered.
The only substitutions I can confidently recommend include:
- Butter vs. coconut oil (a 1:1 swap)
- Pecans vs. walnuts (a 1:1 swap)
- Cinnamon vs. apple pie spice (reduce the amount by half)
How to Serve Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
As previously mentioned, this treat can be served with vanilla ice cream or one of the equally dreamy combinations listed below:
- Whipped cream
- Homemade Caramel Sauce
- Classic Hot Cocoa
- Cinnamon Hot Chocolate
- A warm cup of tea
Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
Ingredients
Apple filling:
- 6 medium apples, peeled and sliced to a ¼-inch thickness*
- 1 ½ teaspoons apple pie spice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Crumble Topping:
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 cup walnuts
- ¾ cup oat flour
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ⅔ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ teaspoons apple pie spice
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish or baking dish with coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, toss the sliced apples with the spices and maple syrup. Transfer to the baking dish.
- For the crisp topping, combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process or pulse until the pecans are finely ground and the dough forms a thick, crumbly paste
- If your topping isn’t thick, you can chill it for 5-10 mins in the fridge. Spread the topping over the apple to completely cover.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the apples are bubbling and the topping is brown and crisp. If the top browns too soon, you can cover it with aluminum foil part of the way through.
- Let sit for at least 30 minutes to cool down before serving warm.
Notes
- Butter vs. coconut oil (1:1 )
- Pecans vs. walnuts ( 1:1 )
- Cinnamon vs. apple pie spice (use 1 ¼ teaspoon)
Lauren says
Can you freeze this?
Laura Fuentes says
In theory yes. However, I have found that freezing after baking tends to change the texture. You can prep it and freeze it to be baked at a later date without significantly altering the end result.