PROTEIN APPLE CRISP (DAIRY FREE)

September 14, 2022

Apple desserts have to be my favorite - and this Protein Apple Crisp did not disappoint! Baked cinnamon apples are layered between two buttery layers of oat crisp, with a hint of cardamom for those "apple pie" vibes. It's the perfect healthy dessert topped with your choice of dairy-free or protein vanilla ice cream! 

You might also like my Protein Peach Crisp and Mixed Berry Protein Crisp ;)

Did you know? Apples will stay fresh for a couple weeks at room temperature, but will get mealy if you keep them in the fridge. Apples can also cause other fruits to ripen more quickly because of gases they emit. You don’t want to trap all of that gas in your fridge and cause your other produce to go bad faster!

Protein recommendations

To up the protein here, I added LIV Body Lean Vegan Protein Powder! I used Frosted Oatmeal Cookie flavor as it blends so perfectly with the oats. LIV Body is vegan, gluten-free, and free of artificial ingredients. Their protein even contains probiotics and organic superfoods! Feel free to use my code SARAHWILKINS for free shipping on all LIV Body products (including their skin care!)

If using another brand of protein powder, I would stick with vegan blends, pea protein, or soy isolate. Casein or a whey-casein blend might work, but whey isolate or collagen protein are not recommended for this recipe without modifications (which I have not tested).

Choosing the best oats

Oats are often grown in the same soil as wheat and other gluten grains like barley. This is why it’s important to look for certified “gluten-free” oats if you’re sensitive to gluten.

I also recommend purchasing organic oats because non-organic oats are grown using pesticides like glyphosate (Roundup). Glyphosate use has increased from 13.9 million pounds in 1992 to 287 million pounds in 2016 (source)! This is alarming because glyphosate is a known endocrine disrupter, may increase cancer risk, and kills off good gut bacteria! In addition to its use as a pesticide, glyphosate is also used as a drying agent to dehydrate oats before processing.

I like old-fashioned rolled oats in this recipe, but quick oats will work too!

Sweetener recommendations

For this Protein Apple Crisp, I used a Lakanto Golden monk fruit sweetener to impart some richer brown sugar flavor. You can use any brown sugar alternative you like or even regular brown sugar if you don't mind the extra sugar. 

For the apple filling, I used my favorite organic stevia blend that's calorie-free and twice as sweet as sugar. Feel free to substitute twice as much (two tablespoons) baking stevia, erythritol, monk fruit, or granulated sugar. These sweeteners can also be used for the crumble, but it won't taste as rich. If using stevia extract or drops, please refer to the brand-specific conversion chart.

Other substitutions

This recipe calls one egg white, but you can substitute one tablespoons of ground flaxseed with two tablespoons of warm water for vegan! You can also sub an equivalent amount of vegan egg replacer.

The combination of unsweetened applesauce and vegan buttery spread gives a tender, crumbly crisp texture. You could try dairy-free yogurt if you don’t have unsweetened applesauce. The vegan buttery spread can be swapped for organic unsalted butter, ghee or coconut oil.

Ice cream topping

For the ice cream topping, I used a dairy-free vanilla ice cream! If you'd like to up the protein content even more, try protein ice cream on top (like Halo Top).

Here's the printable recipe for this Protein Apple Crisp (Dairy Free)! I hope you love it :)

This post contains affiliate links and is sponsored by LIV Body.

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