sweetener-free skillet apple crumble with an AIP apple-flour topping, sweetness from the fruit alone

Some nights on this protocol call for something warm and a little sweet, and this crumble goes about as far into that on the strict end as you can go: nothing here is sweetened on purpose, not with honey, not with maple, nothing added at all. Every bit of sweetness comes from the apples themselves as they soften in the skillet, which makes this the one dessert on this list you can reach for without weighing it against anything.

Apples are where the real support is. The pectin in them is a soluble fiber your gut's microbial population can ferment into short-chain fatty acids, and those compounds are part of what keeps the lining of your gut calm rather than reactive. Leave a little skin on when you peel and you keep more of the plant compounds that live just under it too.

This is 1 skillet, 1 bowl for the topping, and well under 30 minutes end to end, so let the ease of it be part of what you enjoy. Eat it warm, straight from the pan if that is honest about how you will actually eat it, and let the smell of cinnamon do some of the comforting a dessert is supposed to do.

Ingredients

• 3 small-to-medium organic apples
• 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil, divided
• 1/2 cup apple flour (the source names Anti Grain brand; see Notes for swaps)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 350F.
2. Peel the apples and cut them into half-inch slices.
3. In an 8-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat, soften the apple slices in 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil for about 8 to 10 minutes, until they give a little. Season with half the cinnamon and the salt, then take the skillet off the heat.
4. In a small bowl, stir the remaining 2 tablespoons coconut oil and the remaining cinnamon together with the apple flour and the mace until it holds together in loose crumbs.
5. Scatter the crumble topping evenly over the cooked apples in the skillet.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the topping crisps and turns golden.
7. Serve warm.

Notes

There is no added sweetener here by design; the apples carry it. The source offers one substitution for the apple flour: grind crunchy, preservative-free apple chips in a food processor and swap them 1:1 for the apple flour. If neither is on hand, cassava or tigernut flour is an ARM fallback to keep it Core, though the texture will differ and is untested for this recipe. Do not substitute oats, nuts, or seeds; those are excluded on AIP and the topping is intentionally built without them. Mace is AIP-permitted and is not the same spice as nutmeg.

*Adapted from grazedandenthused.com*