Healthy Baked Apple Slices with Caramel

These healthy baked apple slices with caramel are a simple and delicious dessert that is perfect for fall, winter and the holidays. Easy to make and refined sugar free they also make a delicious breakfast or snack.

Table of Contents

• Why you will love this recipe:
• Ingredients and substitutions:
• How to make (step-by-step):
• Top tips:
• Recipe variations:
• How to serve:
• How to store:
• Frequently asked questions:
• Other recipes you will love:
• Recipe

Why you will love this recipe:

• These baked cinnamon apple slices taste amazing! With hints of cinnamon and nutmeg these apples have the best fall flavour and the homemade caramel sauce makes them even more decadent.
• They are really easy to make and you don't have to peel the apples (although you can if you want to). 
• They are a great dessert to serve for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
• They are naturally sweetened and refined sugar free so are healthier than many other baked apple recipes.
• This recipe is a fun twist on an old-fashioned baked apple slices recipe that is naturally gluten free, dairy free, paleo, and vegan.

If you love caramel and apple together you will love apple pie bars and apple pie oatmeal too!

Ingredients and substitutions:

• Apples – the star of this recipe, you can use any type of sweet red apple that you like. My favourites are Gala, Pink Lady and Honeycrisp. 
• Coconut sugar – my favourite natural granulated sugar. You can find coconut sugar in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or in the gluten free or organic sections. You could easily swap this for brown sugar too, just note that brown sugar is not considered to be refined sugar free. 
• Lemon juice – to help balance out the sweetness of the apples and sugar. 
• Spices: cinnamon and nutmeg – nothing says a perfect fall treat like the combination of these spices. 
• Coconut oil - these help the apple slices become perfectly tender when they bake in the oven. If you tolerate dairy you could use butter or ghee instead.
• Dates - these are used to make the dreamy caramel sauce on these cooked apples.
• Coconut milk - this is combined with the dates to help make the creamy caramel sauce. I recommend using full fat coconut milk for best results (low fat coconut milk is too watery).
• Maple syrup - to add natural sweetness to the caramel sauce. You could swap this for honey as well.
• Vanilla extract - to help enhance all the delicious and rich flavours of the caramel.

How to make (step-by-step):

To make the baked apples:

Step one:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step two:

Then chop the apples into slices (you can leave the skin on or peel it off, whichever you prefer) and place them in a 3 quart casserole dish.

Step three:

Now add the remaining ingredients and stir the apples well to coat them evenly in the sugar, spice mixture.

Step four:

Then cover the casserole dish and bake the apples for 40-45 minutes, until the apples are the texture you desire (you can make the caramel sauce while the apples are baking).

To make the caramel sauce:

Step one:

Place all the caramel sauce ingredients into your high speed blender.

Step two:

Then blend everything well until you have a smooth caramel sauce.

Step three:

Once the apples have finished baking, drizzle the caramel sauce over top of the apple slices. Then serve and enjoy!

Top tips:

• Try to cut the apple slices into similar sized pieces so that they cook evenly and end up with the same texture.
• If you don't have a high speed blender you could also use a food processor to make the caramel sauce.

Recipe variations:

• If you prefer the apples without the skin you can peel the apples before chopping them. 
• If you want the apples to be even sweeter feel free to add more coconut sugar to the recipe.
• If you tolerate dairy, feel free to use butter or ghee instead of coconut oil.
• You can make the caramel sauce with either honey or maple syrup.

How to serve:

These baked apples are delicious served as they are, but you could also make them even more decadent by topping them with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, coconut whipped cream or vanilla yogurt.

How to store:

Store any leftover baked apples in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 7 days. 

I don't recommend trying to freeze baked apples. They turn out rather mushy when you thaw them if you try freezing them.

Frequently asked questions:

Other recipes you will love:

• Apple Pie Bars
• Healthy Apple Crumble
• Paleo Ice Cream Bars with Berries
• Gluten Free Lemon Bars with Cranberry
• Dairy Free Brownies with Caramel
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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