Maple Walnut Apple Crisp – Each bite is filled with sweet, soft-cooked apples, and crunchy oat and walnut topping, all with subtle maple undertones.
It’s apple season, and the tree we have out back is loaded with apples. In all the years we’ve lived here, this is most apples it’s ever produced. Usually it’s a sorry-looking tree, on the smallish side, with just a few apples. And ultimately stray football or soccer balls knock them off and onto the ground.
But this year. . .this year. . . it’s a sight to see. Full of apples, the branches reach toward the ground, swaying in the wind like they’re going to sweep the ground below them. We lost a few apples to deer and bugs, but most of them are ready to be picked and eaten or put into another dish.
There’s something about eating fresh apples from the tree. The flavor is more pronounced, the crunch is crunchier, and there’s no waxy coating on the skin like you often find in store-bought apples.
Nutritionally, apples have a lot going for them too. They contain a good amount of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. And that’s good for heart health, blood sugar control, and bowel health. They’re relatively low in calories and contain vitamin C as well. In addition, apples have a tendency to help you feel full after eating one – a bonus if you’re trying to lose weight.
My family always looks forward to apple season. It means homemade applesauce, warm apple butter with homemade bread, fresh-cut apple slices for a snack, apple nachos, and apple crisp.
But while my family loves apple crisp, it often contains a lot of added sugar, and I wanted to try reducing that. I also wanted to increase the amount of whole grains. So I took our usual recipe from the Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book and adapted it. I cut back on the amount of brown sugar in the topping, replaced all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, and reduced the amount of butter. To get a little maple flavor – because I think maple goes so well with apples, I lightly coated thick apple slices with maple syrup and cinnamon, and added maple extract to the topping. Finely chopped walnuts added a pleasing crunch to the topping.
Every time I make Maple Walnut Apple Crisp it’s gone in a flash. Really, who can resist mapley, soft-cooked apples and a crunchy walnut topping? I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
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Maple Walnut Apple Crisp
Ingredients
- 6 c. cored and peeled thick-sliced apples
- 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
- 1/3 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. finely chopped walnuts
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 1 tsp. maple or vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375° F.
- Core and peel apples, slicing them into a medium-sized bowl. Add 1/2 cinnamon and 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup to the bowl and mix well, until the cinnamon and maple syrup are distributed evenly around the apple slices.
- Pour prepared apple slices into an 8 X 8 baking dish/pan.
- Prepare topping by stirring together the oats, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, walnuts, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. With a pastry cutter, cut butter and maple/vanilla extract into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles very coarse crumbs.
- Sprinkle topping evenly over the apple slices.
- Bake 40-45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden.
I love crisps and crumbles. Can’t believe it is apple season already, love this!
I know! Apple season kind of snuck up on me this year. Crisps and crumbles are a favorite here too, and they’re so easy to make. 🙂
Oh my goodness, this looks like my dream dessert, Marie! I love that you’ve made this healthy so that I can gobble even more, lol. I’m so jealous of your apple tree! How great that it’s having it’s best year. I have a field that I walk my dogs in and there are 4 apple trees growing there and I usually get a couple from them before people come in and strip it clean. They’re so great tasting!
Sharing this recipe all over. Can I include it in Tuesday Tidbits as well?
Have a great weekend!
Robyn – Yes, feel free to include it in Tuesday Tidbits! I’m honored; your Tuesday Tidbits are always a bright spot in the week. And I’m jealous of the field you get to walk in. We sometimes visit the hobby farm of my mother-in-law and walk in the hills and woods, hunting for mushrooms in the spring and sometimes getting apples or crabapples in the fall. It’s one of my favorite places. You’re out in nature, enjoying everything around you, and to top it off the cell coverage isn’t always all that great – which I’m okay with. It’s nice to unplug for a while. Enjoy your walks and the apples you get there! Have a wonderful weekend!
My favorite kind of dessert, this crisp is just perfect for the fall. Plus, I just went apple picking so I have all the ingredients on hand!
Thanks, Jessica! Apple crisp is one of my favorites too, and the apples are so good this time of year. 🙂
Wow, this looks really great and I think I can even make it! Perfect for Fall too 😉
Thanks! I’m sure you could make it. Apple crisp is easy to make. 🙂
I’d love to have an apple tree but this isn’t apple country. We have sandy soil. :/ I love the addition of maple and walnuts. We ARE pecan country so pecans are in everything. A change in nut is refreshing. Happy fall!
Oooh. You could use pecans in it. That would be good too!
Oh, yum – what a wonderful looking crisp! I think we’re going to have to try this for dessert this weekend. I never really thought of pairing maple with apples, but I guess it would sort of mimic the caramel apple taste that everyone seems to love (too sweet for me!) I might even consider doubling the recipe and adding this in as a Thanksgiving dessert along with the pies. Hmmm…looks absolutely wonderful!
Thank you, Linda. I hope you enjoy it!
OH how lovely! I’m going to have to pin this one for sure 🙂 Maple is delish and apples and walnuts together with it just sounds wonderful.
Thanks, Julie!
I love Fall in general – picking apples and pumpkins, the chill in the air (at least here in Maine),and baking with apples. We picked some a couple weekends ago and I need to make apple sauce and a fresh apple pie!! yum 🙂 this recipe looks like something I need to try – I’m pinning it for later 🙂
I’ve always wanted to see Maine in the fall. I’m sure the apples are wonderful, but the scenery has to be beautiful as well. Thanks for visiting!
Normally I don’t like apples by themselves, but LOVE me some warm apple pie with a side of vanilla ice cream. Your pics and recipes look divine and making me hungry – yum!!!
Great ideas – thanks!
Missy
Musings from Chicago
I’m sure a little vanilla ice cream on warm apple crisp would be quite good too. 🙂
This sounds absolutely fantastic. The photos are so great, I want to take a spoon to my monitor! 🙂 I already passed it along to a friend and pinned it in the last 2 minutes 😉
Thanks for pinning and passing it along, Caroline!
This looks REALLY good. I love the flavor of maple. Walnuts make many things extra delicious. This just looks like a perfect combination for a nice sweet treat. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us.
We like the combination too. Thanks, Crystal!
This looks so yummy! A lot of the orchards here in Texas didn’t produce fruit this year due to bitter rot and fire blight. I’m so bummed. I’ll have to see if there is a fruit stand with some fresh apples so I can try this recipe out.
That’s a bummer about the apples in Texas. I always look forward to fresh apples since they taste so much better. Hope you can find a fruit stand with some!
I love apples and I love crumbles. I’ll definitely try out this recipe.
Thanks for stopping!
Apple crumble is my guilty pleasure, especially with some ice cream! Your recipe sounds delicious I’ll be making it this weekend for sure! Thanks for sharing.
Oh man, this looks delicious? Would I be judged for having it for breakfast?? 🙂
Ha, ha! No judgement here. In fact, my daughter had some at breakfast the other day. It’s got apples, whole grains, and nuts so there are some wonderfully healthy things in it. Pair it with a little Greek yogurt and you’re set. 🙂
Oooh, I just finished up my last apple on a batch of applesauce yesterday, but hubby promised he’d stop and get more on the way home from work today, so I’m totally making this when he does! Pinning
What a delicious apple dessert recipe. Now I want to go apple picking and try this recipe out. Thanks!
Thank you, Shelah!
This looks FABULOUS, in part because your pictures are GORGEOUS.
(Do you like my judicious use of capital letters? It’s because I’m so EXCITED about this recipe!)
I’m glad you took part in Blogelina’s Commentathon because I really like your blog, Marie. Thank you for sharing such wonderfully healthy and yummy ideas. ?
Margaret – Caps are great, aren’t they! How else would we show our excitement. 🙂 Glad you stopped by and hope you enjoy the recipes!
Sounds delicious! Your apples sound heavenly. We have a plum tree at our house but are stationed overseas at the moment, so our tenants get to enjoy the plums for now and I miss that experience.
Enjoy!
I am a die hard apple crisp fan. Love it! I have never made it though! LOL I am a spoiled MN girl who’s grandma makes the best apple crisp! I just may have to try this version on my own since grandma is still in MN and I’m in AZ!
We just moved into a new house back in July and we have a big apple tree in our backyard. I will definitely be making this apple crisp. It looks so good!!
I love everything and anything apple! This looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing such a yummy recipe!
I love apples any way you can make them. We have a town about an hour away that has an apple fest every fall. It’s a lot fun. They are a great snack or addition to any meal.
I loved the recipe title so much I nearly stayed away. Yes I did say stay away. Maple walnut apple CRISP. Well that gets my attention. Whatever the ingredients add cream and I have a dessert tray all to myself. However the ingredients is great. I could near cook it up and eat it all guilt free. Now you know why I nearly stayed away. Because dessert or a snack like this simply not shared. Written by a single woman with no children. Enjoyed this post.
Rachel.
this would be perfect with a little vanilla ice cream! yum!
This looks really good. I like that you made it healthier than other crisps. Pinned and looking forward to trying it.
I love a good apple crisp and this looks mouth watering yummy. Thanks for the recipe.
This looks delicious! I am excited for apple season and fall!
This looks and sounds so delicious!! Great pictures! I love that the recipe has no refined sugar – that’s how we try to eat here. I’ve bookmarked this recipe for later. Thanks for sharing!
This looks very yummy and my husband is drooling over it . I rarely make desert but will pin and try for sure.
I will be trying this recipe soon! Thanks for sharing.
This looks quite yummy! I have a lot of apples that I need to use up before they go bad, so I think I’ll make this! Can I use honey instead of the maple syrup?
Christy – I haven’t tried it with honey, but I think you should be able to make that substitution. Enjoy!
Looks so good! Can’t wait to give it a try.
This looks amazing! You are making me want to plant an orchard.
mmm…I wish we had an apple tree in our backyard! This looks very delicious!
Yum! Now I know what to do with all the apples in my fridge that no one is eating.
This sounds absolutely scrumptious – you’ve left me pondering why I’ve never used maple syrup when baking apple stuff before. I’m pretty sure I’ll be baking this later this week!
This looks so good! Perfect timing–our apples are ripe!
Oh my, YUM! This is definitely going on my list of fall recipes.
This looks so amazing! I love fall for the apples and the root vegetables! Perfect season to bake, cook and cosy up.
Now I regret not buying maple syrup when I went grocery shopping just now! Or else I would make it right this very second. Going to check out your other recipes. Great post and great blog!
Thank you!
What a yummy looking recipe and great for fall. Please consider linking this up on the #HomeMattersParty linky this Friday on my blog. Others need to know about all this yumminess.
Oh Yummy! Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to try this.
I love apple crisp! I have a recipe that I make every year in my crockpot and top it off with vanilla ice cream. I will be sure to give your recipe a whirl this year!
Oooh. Crockpot apple crisp. Now that sounds interesting!
Oooh, I bet it makes the whole house smell good when you’re making it! Love that maple/apple combination.
Oh it does. Love it when my oldest son comes in and asks what smells so good. 🙂
I don’t bake. Can I just stand in your kitchen and smell the deliciousness? tee hee
Anytime! Delicious smells are free. 🙂
I had a recipe close to this and lost it in a move. My husband constantly asks me to recreate and it never comes out right. I’m sure he’ll love this one!