Holiday Apple Crisp

(Originally posted by Blest)

This recipe is from The South Beach Diet Parties & Holidays Cookbook

1/4 cup unsweetened dried cherries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup trans-fat free margarine

1/2 cup whole grain pastry flour

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsps granular sugar substitute

2 tbsps cinnamon

9 Granny Smith Apples

2 Tbsps lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.  Lightly coat a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Place cherries and water in a bowl and soak cherries until ready to use.

Meanwhile, combine oats, margarine, 1/4 cup of the flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar substitute, and 1 Tbsp of the cinnamon in a medium bowl; stir until mixture is crumbly.

Toss apples and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup flour, 2 Tbsps sugar substitute, and remaining 1 tbsp cinnamon; stir to combine.

Place apples in baking dish. Pour cherries and soaking water over apple mixture; toss gently to combine.  Sprinkle oat topping evenly over fruit. Bake until apples are tender, about 40 minutes. Serve warm.

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Personally, I couldn’t find unsweetened dried cherries. The ones I found had High Fructose Corn Syrup in them, which is, as you know, of the  .   But being the day before Thanksgiving, I could find cranberries.  I may be brave and try some of those in there…I may not.  I also couldn’t see why I should use Granny Smith apples and then sweeten them.  I don’t like artificial sweeteners, y’know.  Why not just use a really yummy sweet apple and leave out the splenda?  HoneyCrisp apples are delicious and have a great texture.  I should probably not leave all the sweetener out of the topping though…  I haven’t decided whether I’ll use a reduced amount of the Splenda or try using a smidgen of maple syrup.  What do you think?   

UPDATE: I left the sweetener out of the apples.  I used 2 tbsps of real maple syrup in the topping. I mixed it in with the softened butter and then added the other topping ingredients. This made the topping a little more gooey than it would be, but it was quite tasty!  Personally, I loved this dessert. It seemed nicely sweet and decadent to me, but then I have a South Beach trained palate.  My husband, who eats plenty of candy, thought it tasted good but plain - not like a dessert.