Healthy Pear and Apple Crisp

Tomorrow is officially Canadian Thanksgiving and we are gathering with our family today to celebrate togetherness and gratitude for all of our blessings. I’ve learned over the years however, that gratitude and thanksgiving really should be a daily attitude. When both gratitude and thanksgiving are part of our every day thoughts and actions, it’s amazing how much peace, contentment, and joy they bring us.

If you follow me on social media you’ll have seen the free October Self-Care Challenge that my sister Sarah of Organized with Kids and I are running. Each day we do a simple self-care practice and share about it over Instagram. We are thrilled to have had hundreds of you join in with us to do your own daily self-care already (you can still join if you are interested, it’s free!). One part of our self-care challenge is to focus on gratitude as it has been shown to improve wellness! Whether you are doing the self-care challenge with us, celebrating Thanksgiving today or tomorrow, or maybe not until next month, I think it’s fair to say gratitude is in the air!

Do you know what’s also in the air? The smell of cinnamon, baked apples, and all things warm, cozy, and “fall”! This month my house has definitely been bursting with the smell of cinnamon and one reason is this amazingly delicious Healthy Pear and Apple Crisp.

Months ago I was on a crisp kick after a friend of mine shared a delicious Vegan Apple Crisp with me when Hemsley and I went over for a play date. The recipe was from the beautiful blog Well Plated by Erin, and as soon as I got home I tracked down her recipe and made it myself. Over the following few weeks I made the crisp many times, in many ways, adding in different fruits and toppings. I seriously started to think I might be pregnant again because I just couldn’t get enough apple crisp!

It turns out I wasn’t pregnant, just really into apple crisp that month.

Now that fall is in full swing and pears are in season, I decided to go down memory lane and create an adaption of Erin’s amazing recipe, bringing in pears, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, vegan butter, and coconut sugar! I also decided to make Pinch Of Yum’s 5-Minute Magic Vegan Caramel Sauce to drizzle all over the crisp… aaahhmazing.

The pears and apples work so well together in this recipe as they each have a bit of a different texture so there’s a mixture of soft, tender pears with firmer, baked apples. Both pears and apples are equally healthy, rich in vitamins, minerals, and loaded with filling fibre.

For the crisp topping I used iron-rich pumpkin seeds, protein-rich hemp seeds, and naturally sweet coconut sugar that combine with rolled oats, almond flour, shredded coconut, maple syrup, vegan butter, coconut oil, and walnuts. I love baking with coconut sugar as I find it has a rich, caramel flavour and it happens to be low on the glycemic index so it’s a great healthier alternative to white or brown sugar, especially in a dish like apple crisp.

This pear and apple crisp is a definite nutritional step-up from your typical run-of-the-mill apple crisp as it contains no refined sugars and has the added benefits of healthy fats and protein. If you are looking for a great Thanksgiving dessert, this one is sure to be a crowd-pleaser (as well as Erin’s recipe, it’s splendid!).

Whichever crisp you end up making, drizzling the crisp with the Pinch Of Yum Magic Vegan Caramel Sauce is also a must – seriously, genius!

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating this weekend! I hope you are able to gather with friends or family, eat some amazing food, and spend time dedicated to gratitude. If you haven’t signed up for the FREE October Self-Care Challenge yet, it’s not too late, you can do so here! Not only will you love the benefits of focused self-care but we also have an amazing self-care prize bundle to be won!

5.0 from 3 reviews

Healthy Pear and Apple Crisp

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

Pear & Apple Filling:
3 ripe pears, cut into wedges
3 red delicious or granny smith apples, sliced into wedges
1 tablespoon tapioca starch (or arrowroot powder or cornstarch)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ cup apple juice
¼ cup pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon minced ginger root
Crisp Topping:
1¼ cup gluten free rolled oats
½ cup almond flour
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
½ cup crushed raw walnuts
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
¼ cup pure maple syrup

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl combine filling ingredients and stir until apples and pears are completely coated.
Pour the pear and apple filling into a large oven-safe baking dish.
In the same large bowl used to make filling, add rolled oats, almond flour, shredded coconut, coconut palm sugar, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt and stir to combine.
In a smaller bowl whisk together the melted vegan butter, melted coconut oil, and maple syrup and pour into the bowl with the other topping ingredients, stir to combine.
Crumble the crisp topping over the filling in the baking dish and pack down gently.
Bake covered with lid or foil for 25 min, then remove lid/foil and continue baking for 15-20 more minutes or until top is golden and juices are bubbling around edges.
Remove from oven and let cool 20 minutes before serving.

Notes

Optional: Serve wth a scoop of dairy free vanilla ice cream or coconut yogurt (I used Yoso coconut yogurt for this batch) and drizzle with Pinch Of Yum's 5-Minute Magic Vegan Caramel Sauce (highly recommended!)

Recipe adapted from Well Plated by Erin

If you liked this recipe then you may also enjoy my Vegan Apple Cake with Streusel Topping.

Be sure to pin the photo below to save this pear and apple crisp recipe for later and share the love. If you aren’t celebrating Thanksgiving just yet it’s definitely a keeper for those Fall holiday boards!