This family-friendly Apple-Pecan Crisp is bubbling over with spiced tender apples swimming in a caramel sauce all topped with a thick layer of crispy oat and pecan crust. Serve with a dollop of coconut whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream for a health(ish) family dessert. 

Graphic for Post - Apple Pecan Crisp - Fall Dessert - Healthy - Family Friendly - with pictures of cooked apple crisp in a baking dish and a plate.

I am going to go ahead and warn you that this recipe is good, like REALLY GOOD!

So good, that it is my professional recommendation that you make this delicious apple-pecan crisp when no one else is around.

Not that you won’t share the remaining half of the crisp with the other little mouths in your house. Pssh… we are not that mean. They will get their turn.

But the first warm bite of warm spiced apples oozing with just enough caramelly richness and topped with a thick layer of crispy-crunchy oat and pecan crust – that my friends are all yours.

This coveted first bite can happen in the morning with a strong cup of coffee, at lunch with a drizzle of vanilla yogurt on top, or probably more socially acceptable served as a dessert with a dollop of whipped coconut creme or even real ice cream.

Not that we care about being socially acceptable. Puh-leeze – I don’t think so!

It’s your bite (or more realistically, half a dish), you pick when to have and what to put on top!

This delicious recipe comes to you not from me, but from my friend’s Nicki Sizemore’s new cookbook – The Food Processor Family Cookbook, which is easily one of my new favorite cookbooks! I love it so much that it has permanently taken up residence on my nightstand. Is it weird that I have a stack of cookbooks on my nightstand? I can’t be the only one that reads cookbooks before going to bed… heellllloooooooo out there soul cookbook sister….

First of all, I think Nicki can read my mind.

Apple Crisp dessert next to the book the recipe is in.

Which might be a little creepy except for the fact that she takes every food recipe I have always wanted to make, and even ones I never knew I wanted, and brings them to fruition.

I’m talking about recipes like these –

Bruschetta with Whipped Goat Cheese – YES!
Thai Roasted Carrot-Ginger Soup – Perfect for Winter!
Chopped Power Salad – Hello Healthy!
Chicken and Peach Kebabs with Peanut Dipping Sauce – Droooolllll!
Linguini with Spinach and Ricotta-Walnut Pesto – Weeknight dinner inspiration!
Curried Chickpea Salad Wraps – Tasty wrap for Ellie’s school lunch!
Asian marinated Pork Chops with Cilantro and Mint Chutney – To.Die.For!
Red and Green Veggie Pizzas – TGIF pizza night!
Fruit Tart with Raw Macadamia Crust – In my mouth NOW!

All of the recipes in The Food Processor Family Cookbook are made with your family in mind. Fast and easy recipes that the entire family will enjoy. Nicki, who has two young daughters, also shares her delicious every day recipes with us on her blog – From Scratch Fast.

Nicki also makes every single one of the recipes in her cookbook with the powerhouse kitchen tool – the Food Processor.

Yup, the one piece of kitchen equipment that we all love and are equally afraid of.

The s-blade, shredding dish, slicing disc, debates stem… uggg what are all of those things? I am pretty sure that the s-blade is the only attachment that has ever seen the inside of my food processor. The rest seem like, well I don’t know, some type of complicated kitchen voodoo.

Cooked apple crisp dessert.

Let’s be honest, before reading Nicki’s book I used my food processor for baby purees, pestos and nut butter. Which is like 101 for the food processor.

But Nicki lays it out for us like the kitchen wizard that she is. She goes through and explains how to put the food processor to work – chop vegetables, knead pizza dough, shred cheese, dice garlic and onions, mix muffin dough and so on.

It really gets me thinking of how much time I have wasted in my kitchen.

It’s cool, I usually cook while drinking wine, so there is that.

But now, I now feel like a food processor champ!

I know what all those crazy looking blades do that have been in the back of my cabinet since I opened the box nearly 5 years ago, all while making some delicious family meals! Pure kitchen magic!!

For more amazing recipes, please check out Nicki’s new book The Food Processor Family Cookbook or her blog From Scratch Fast.

Baked apple crisp is cup with a serving on a plate.
Baked apple crisp is cup with a serving on a plate.

Get the recipe: APPLE-PECAN CRISP

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Bubbling over with spiced tender apples swimming in a caramel sauce all topped with a thick layer of crispy oat and pecan crust.  

Ingredients 

  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter – divided, plus more for greasing
  • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, divided
  • 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp packed light brown sugar, divided
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
  • pinch freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1/3 cup pecans
  • 5 medium Granny Smith apples, about 2 pounds, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch dice
  • Whipped cream coconut cream or vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. Butter an 8×8 or similar size baking dish.
  • Fit the food processor with the s blade. Add 1/2 cup of oats, and process to the texture of coarse flour.
  • Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, the nutmeg and salt. Process to combine.
  • 4 Add the pecans, and pulse until coarsely chopped, about 6 pulses. Add the remaining 1/4 cup oats, and pulse twice to combine.
  • Melt 4 tablespoons of butter, and pour in over the mixture in the processor. Pulse until the butter is distributed and the mixture looks damp, about 10 pulses.
  • Toss the apples with the remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Transfer to the baking dish. Cut the remaining tablespoon of butter into small pieces, and dot it over the apples. Sprinkle the crisp topping evenly on top.
  • Cover the crisp tightly with foil, and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for 30 minutes longer, or until the top is browned and the apples are tender. Let cool slightly
  • Serve warm or at room temperature, with a dollop of whipped cream, coconut cream or ice cream, it you wish.

Notes

Yield: 6-8 servings
Storage: store at room temperature or in the fridge for 2 days

Did you make this recipe?

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