15-20 minutes
When the weather is chilly, I crave comfort foods. One of my favorite desserts falls into the warm comfort food category – spiced apples. This satisfying sweet also checks the boxes of easy, yummy, customizable, and healthy, all of which I love in a dessert.
In typical Holly fashion, I’ll give you the basics, and then you can tweak the recipe to fit your mood.
Ingredients:
chopped apples
You get to decide what type, how much, with or without peel, and what size cubes you want the apples to be in.
spices
I like to keep it simple and usually just add cinnamon. But you can add fresh (diced and peeled) ginger or powdered ginger, some cloves, and/or maybe some powdered cardamom. Whatever floats your desired flavor profile, do that. These amounts will vary depending on how much, say, cinnamon you want. Just remember that a little usually goes a long way with these spices, so don’t be overly heavy-handed. And add in a pinch of salt to help the natural flavors pop.
water
To go the more stewed type of texture, add in just enough water to halfway cover all of the apples. If you’re looking for some extra juices, add in a bit more water – but you really won’t cover the apples completely.
To prep:
*wash, peel (if you want, or not), and chop the apples
*place into a medium saucepan
*add water
*add spices and salt
*turn on the stove to medium-high and cook until the water is at a low simmer.
*once simmering, turn the heat down to low, put a lid on the pan, and cook until the apples are the consistency you’d like (softer apples = longer cooking)
Add-ons:
*drizzle some maple syrup or honey onto the apples once they’re completely cooked
*sprinkle with something crunchy like granola, graham crackers, or even shortbread cookies for an apple pie vibe
*top with a dollop of Greek yogurt, ice cream, or whipped cream
(with all of these add-ons, the more processed, the worse they are for your bod, so just keep that in mind)
There are so many ways you can tweak this recipe, and all are super easy. Just my speed.