A healthy Caramel Apple Crisp with a crunchy pecan oat topping and Vegan Peanut Butter caramel sauce. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for the perfect easy single serve dessert!
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First time having an apple crisp, and I’m so glad I went for this just on-the-whim.
I had one apple – bought it just for some fall dessert recipes – but didn’t have anything specific in mind.
Last night I thought of doing something caramel apple flavored, and this afternoon I thought of a crisp.
Googled some recipes – of course there was no single serving out there – so I adapted a few and made this apple crisp for one!
And as for that caramel, I made an easy caramel sauce with peanut butter and sugar-free maple syrup. Such a beautiful combo with that ice cream.
Ingredients for Peanut Butter Caramel Apple Crisp
This easy and healthy caramel apple crisp is made with whole grain rolled oats, whole wheat flour and sugar-free brown sugar replacement. The other ingredients are super simple too and just pantry staples:
- Apple: I used the regular Gaia, but Honey-crisp is a good choice too.
- Whole Wheat Flour – or regular or even Gluten-free
- Rolled Oats – keep it gluten-free if you need to
- Almond Flour for a nutty flavor to the topping.
- Chopped Pecans for some extra crunch in the crisp topping
- 1:1 Sugar-free Brown Sugar Substitute for a healthy brown sugar apple crisp, with no added sugar. I used Swerve. Regular brown sugar would be the alternative.
- Cinnamon for the warmth, and because Cinnamon-Apple is just a classic combo
- Cold Butter – I go for the unsalted
To make this caramel apple crisp completely Vegan, you can use a Vegan Butter stick instead; That’s actually what I did. This also keeps the recipe dairy free.
How to make Healthy Apple Crisp for One
This caramel pecan apple crisp is as easy to make as a regular oatmeal bake! Just a few extra steps though.
- Start with preheating your oven to 350°F.
- Slice the apple fine or just chop it up
- Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl: apple, whole wheat flour, brown sugar substitute and cinnamon, and toss.
- Grease a 1-cup ramekin or oven-safe dish with coconut oil or cooking spray, and transfer the apples into the ramekin.
- Whisk the dry crisp ingredients in another bowl: oats, almond flour, pecans, more brown sugar replacement and cinnamon.
- Add in the cubed – very small – butter, and crumble it all up with your fingers or a fork. You should have actual large crumbles.
- Sprinkle the topping on the apples – evenly.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until the apples are soft and topping is crispy. If the oats start to brown, cover it with a foil.
Don’t forget to let it cool a bit before you top it with that peanut butter and vanilla ice cream 🙂
Vegan Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce?
Yes! This caramel apple crisp uses a Vegan nut butter caramel sauce – peanut butter here.
- Peanut Butter: This vegan caramel sauce has no coconut and no butter, so it’s a lot healthier.
- Maple Syrup: Use a stevia or monk fruit sweetened syrup for a sugar free Vegan Caramel
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Optionally, a pinch of Salt for a salted caramel apple crisp; You could also use salted peanut butter instead.
Tips for this Single Serve Apple Crisp
- Use Rolled Oats since they’re a thicker and get the crispiness of granola when baked.
Be sure to use gluten free oats if you need. - Slice the apple thin or chop it small so that it can cook completely and soften. Large chunks of apple would take longer to cook and the pecan oatmeal crisp topping will burn.
- Use cold butter so that you get actual clusters of oats that can crisp up when baked.
- Chop the Butter small too so that it’s easy to crumble into the oat topping.
Double up the quantity and make a healthy apple crisp for two!
You can also size up the quantities here (about 6x), use a regular 8×8” baking pan for a full fledged peanut butter caramel apple crisp! Bake this version for about 45-50 minutes.
A skillet apple crisp is another option!
Can you store Apple Pecan Crisp?
Just like a regular sized version or a baked oatmeal recipe, this single serve apple crisp also keeps and makes for a great meal prep breakfast.
You can keep the baked crisp in the fridge in an airtight container and it should be fine for 3-4 days. Microwave it to reheat – about 20-30 seconds should be good.
For longer-term storage, this peanut butter caramel apple oatmeal is freezer friendly! Freeze the crisp in zipper bags and they should last about 2-3 months. Thaw it in the fridge, and then reheat in the microwave.
Some Easy Single Serve Recipes with Oatmeal:
- Chocolate Baked Oatmeal for One
- Peanut Butter Zucchini Baked Oatmeal
- Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal For One
Peanut Butter Caramel Apple Crisp For One
Ingredients
Filling:
- ½ medium Apple, Cored and Thinly sliced/Chopped, 91g
- 1 tsp Whole Wheat Flour
- ½ tsp 1:1 Sugar-free Brown Sugar Substitute, or brown sugar
- Pinch of Cinnamon, 1/16 tsp
Topping:
- 1 Tbsp Rolled Oats, 11g
- 1 Tbsp Almond Flour, or other
- ½ Tbsp Chopped Pecans, 7g
- ¾ tsp 1:1 Sugar-free Brown Sugar Substitute, or brown sugar
- Pinch of Cinnamon, 1/16 tsp
- 1½ tsp Cold Butter or Vegan Butter stick, Cut into small cubes, 7g
Peanut Butter Caramel:
- 2 tsp Creamy Peanut Butter
- 2 tsp Maple Syrup, Stevia sweetened preferred
- ⅛ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- Optional sprinkle of Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 1-cup (8oz) ramekin or oven-safe dish with cooking spray.
- Combine apple, whole wheat flour, brown sugar replacement and cinnamon in a large bowl and toss. Transfer to ramekin or baking dish.
- In another bowl, combine oats, almond flour, chopped pecans and cinnamon.
- And butter cubes and use fingers or a fork to work mixture to form heavy crumbs.
- Evenly sprinkle topping on top of apple.
- Transfer mix into ramekin/dish. Sprinkle with chocolate chips if desired.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until apples are soft and crumble is browning.
- To make caramel: Stir together peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla in a small bowl.
- Let cool a few minutes, top with ice cream, drizzle on peanut butter caramel and dig in!
Notes
- Fridge: 3-4 days in an airtight glass container. Reheat in microwave for 20-30 seconds until warmed through.
- Freezer: 3-4 months wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in a freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving. Reheat in the microwave as above.
- Swerve Brown Sugar Replacement
- Servings: 1 cup, 8oz | Serving size: 1 cup
- Calories: 291kcal
- Fat: 17.6g | Saturated fat: 3.1g
- Carbohydrates: 40.5g | Fiber: 6.8g | Sugar: 10.4g
- Protein: 6.1g
[…] apple combo sounded delicious, so I thought of a crisp recipe, but turned out I already had a healthy single serve caramel apple crisp recipe on my website. And also a strawberry apple crisp. Crumble was all that was […]