I am a real puddings person, such a sweet tooth and my January rule is no refined sugar so I have been looking for sweet treats that are not filled full of sugar.

My friend asked me round for dinner the other night and I said I would bring pudding. This meant I didn’t have to have the awkward conversation of  “Oh i’m trying to be sugar free at the moment. Do you mind making  a real effort because I am being difficult?”

I wouldn’t call this a diet as much as more of a changing my way of thinking long term. Eventually I would like to avoid using natural sweeteners* too but then I come back to the way of thinking that life is too short to worry about everything and I should just take a little more exercise when I can.

Apple crumble with a big dollop of ice-cream is one of my all time favourites so here is my version which is packed full of oats, nuts, fruit and a few variations for you to try at home.

To serve 4 people:

4 Crisp crunchy apples like Braeburn (not cooking apples)
1 Lemon
1/2 cup Homemade granola
2 Brazil nut and almond cookies
1 tbsp Maple syrup
Greek Yoghurt to serve

Get a sauce pan and squeeze quarter of your lemon into a splash of water.

Peel your apples and chop into small pieces and place into the water/lemon and swirl to top the apples going brown. Add more lemon if this process happens quickly. Gently heat the apples and place on a lid string occasionally till the apples have broken down but not complete mush. Add your maple syrup to taste at this stage.

I have cheated and used a mixture of my granola and cookies to make the crumble topping here as I had them both in the house, but to be honest, you don’t need to use both as one or the other works just fine. I find using the mixture of the two makes it more like a pudding or it can end up tasting slightly like breakfast. (Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day though so nothing wrong with pudding and breakfast basically being the same!)

I find it is best to heat the apple up in a sauce pan and then add your crumble mixture just before serving with a dollop of natural full fat greek yoghurt with a little lemon zest on top.

Variations for you to try:

Add a large pinch of cinnamon and ground ginger to your apple.
Finely chopped dates would be another way to sweeten the apple.
Toast oats with almond flakes as an alternative topping and add a touch of vanilla bean paste to creme fraiche.
Use other fruits such as pineapple, pears or plums to make a delicious sugar free crumble.

 

 

*Natural Sweeteners are items like honey, agave syrup, maple syrup

(My friend never guessed it was sugar free!)