I can’t even begin to express how ridiculously excited about this recipe I am! First of all, it comes together SO easily (I would know, because I made this on a whim), but also, one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to stop letting food go to waste. I never try to waste food on purpose, but sometimes you just let the bag of spinach sit too long in your fridge, or forget about the bunch of sweet potatoes you bought cause they’re sitting in the cabinet…(yikes) and I always just feel so bad when I end up having to toss the food. I know that I won’t be perfect with this resolution because sometimes things just happen, but I’m hoping that if I put my mind to it, I can change my lifestyle and the way I make purchases going forward.
Coming back from my last grocery run, I realized that I had accidentally bought new apples when I already had some old ones, and then putting away my snacks, I noticed some slightly stale peanut butter cookies sitting in the bag of my pantry (you see what I mean when I say I need to change the way I make purchases? I’m always forgetting what I already have :p ). I didn’t want to break my resolution 3 weeks into the new year, so I got creative. My aunt and uncle happen to be a fan of vegan foods even though they’re not vegans themselves, so I figured that I could whip up a dessert from these things to bring over to them.
Turns out, apples, peanut butter and cinnamon crumble make for a bomb flavor combination. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since as I kid, I always had Ritz crackers with peanut butter and apple slices. Let’s just say biting into these sweet and salty cuties straight from the oven brought me intense waves of nostalgia haha. The one (and might I add, only) bad thing about these bits is that they definitely do get soggy if you decide to store them overnight. Because of this, I’ve only made this recipe to make one batch (a full muffin tin), and would not recommend doubling the recipe unless you know you’re going to have a big crowd.
In other news, my last first day of school (of the second semester) officially started Tuesday! Can’t believe that I’m hitting 18 years of being in school…man I feel old. I’m sure it’ll be surreal once everything comes to an end, but for now, I’m going to concentrate on enjoying my classes and making as many memories as I can make in Big Apple. And maybe making more of these lil’ apple bites!
VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER APPLE CRUMBLE BITES | Makes 12 bites
INGREDIENTS
- 8 peanut butter cookies (the sweet kind, like Nutterbutters)
- 2 medium sized apples – cored and sliced into 1/2″ cubes
- 1 tsp granulated white sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (for the struesel)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp of vegan butter
- 12 Muffin tin liners
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350(F).
- Line a regular sized muffin tin with liners.
- Crush peanut butter cookies until a fine crumble is formed. I will usually just do this in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush cookies.
- Divide crushed cookies evenly between the 12 muffin liners. Pack the crumbs firmly into the bottom of the liners. The bottom of a 1/4 cup works super well to pack down the crumbs.
- In a separate bowl, toss the cubed apples, granulated white sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon together. Let the apples sit while you make the streusel topping.
- In another separate bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and 1/2 tsp cinnamon together. Then cut vegan butter in with either a pastry cutter or two butter knives until a crumble forms. It is SUPER important to keep the butter cold, cold, cold! If it starts to look soft/melty, just stick the bowl into the fridge for 5 or so minutes.
- Divide apples evenly between the 12 liners and place on top of cookie crumble base.
- Top with streusel. Don’t be afraid to be generous!
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until streusel topping is golden.
- Bites should be consumed immediately and not stored overnight for best texture (taste won’t be affected).
Enjoy!
dumplings&donuts 