Nature is at her finest when the leaves just start turning fiery red and burnt orange and the smell of apples fills the air.
That little voice in the back of my head is begging me to ditch school and just head to the orchards. If only….
To me, this time of year means one treat in particular: apple cranberry crumble. Naturally sweet, crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey in the center, it shows up as a side dish, dessert and then again as breakfast the next morning.
When there’s not enough time to sit down to enjoy a slice, you know there has to be another way to get your crumble fix. Thinking caps on, ideas flowing, brains storming. And there it is, the perfect solution. I’ll turn them into cookies—portable without sacrificing on taste!
These cookies are a great way to use some of those apples you’ve picked fresh off the tree. You also won’t have any guilt because they’re made with all natural and clean ingredients. Whoever said “healthy” and “treats” don’t belong in the same sentence clearly hasn’t been eating the good stuff.
Apple-Cranberry Crumble Cookies
Serves: ~15 cookies
Prep time: need prep time
Cook time: 13-15 minutes
Ingredients:
• 1 cup instant oats
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup honey or pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup finely diced apple
1. Measure oats and flour by spooning each into a measuring cup. This ensures that neither is packed into the cup, leaving you with too much oats/flour and dry cookies.
2. Mix together oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk oil, egg, vanilla and honey.
4. Stir dry ingredients into wet until just incorporated. Fold in cranberries and apples.
5. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
6. Before removing dough from fridge, preheat oven to 325°F. Line/grease a baking sheet.
7. Drop 15 rounded scoops of dough onto the sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes.
8. Cool on the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing.
Sara Linder, a Jewish Link contributor, is a sophomore studying marketing and English at the University of Maryland, College Park. She enjoys spending time in the kitchen, doing photography and writing, along with running chesed events in the Orthodox group (Kedma) on campus and keeping up with her studies.
