Recipe ReDeux: Caramel Apples Redefined

Tomorrow is the first day of fall, meaning my obsession with pumpkin, cinnamon, maple, pears and apples is finally justified.

I am obsessed with these things all year long of course, but now its okay.

One of the biggest fall traditions my family has is going up to Apple Hill. A huge apple orchard with every kind of apple ready to pick you can imagine, fresh apple cider, famous apple pies and fudge and apple donuts  and kettle corn and pumpkin patches and cute little crafts and everything fall you can imagine stuffed into one. It even smells like Fall.  And of course,  there’s caramel apples.

But I must make a confession: I’ve never actually liked caramel apples. As a kid, they were just too hard to eat -the caramel was too sweet and fell of the tart apple and covered my face in sticky caramel and hurt my teeth (especially the loose ones! Ahh childhood). Then I got braces which meant I couldn’t have a caramel apple even if I wanted too (which, even though I didn’t like them, I still always wanted one). On top of all that, we soon went vegan. Apple Hill is not very fun for vegans. (JustKiddingitstillis. we just can’t eat anything)

But I still love the idea of caramel apples, and I love apple pie even more! So thats why when this month’s Recipe ReDeux theme was no-cook desserts, I decided what better way to ring in Fall than remaking caramel apples into a treat that is both healthy, more exciting (the spices!), and easy to eat for both the toothless and the brace faced.

Made with beautiful, whole food ingredients, this super simple treat is an excellent way to welcome Fall the way we were meant to -by enjoying the bounty of Earth’s harvest in it’s whole, natural form.

Sweet, soft caramelly bites infused with fall spices and studded with pieces of tart green apple. These are incredible! And I bet, if thinned out with almond milk a bit, this would make an amazing caramel apple dip! Fruit on fruit on delicious fruit -man I love apple season!

Raw Caramel Apple Pie Spice Bites

Makes 12-16, depending on how big you roll ’em 🙂

• 1 C. pitted Medjool Dates
• 2T. Raw Almond Butter
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1 T. almond milk or water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 T. ground flax
• 1/2 T. coconut flour (optional)
• 4-6 T. oats
• 1 T. chopped nuts
• 1/2 C. finely chopped green apple

In a food processor, blend dates, nut butter, lemon juice, and almond milk until smooth. Add vanilla, spices, flax and optional coconut flour (this is if your mixture is too wet) and pulse until combined. Pulse in oats and nuts, then pulse/mix in apple. Form into tablespoon sized balls and keep in freezer or fridge until firm and ready to eat!

 

Also, congratulations to

 

 

Kalia and Aimee for winning a free Vegan Delish app!! Send me an email at laceybug96(at)gmail.com so I can pass your email on to Carrie and you can get your app!!

Now have a wonderful day everyone!! And don’t forget to check out the other awesome recipes in this month’s recipe redeux!!