Grain-Free Apple Crumble Bars

When your best friend texts you a picture of Grain-Free Apple Crumble Bars the day before Thanksgiving... you go to the store for some last minute ingredients so you can make it too! I don't make too many paleo treats, mainly because I will be the only one eating them, but when I do I always go for the simple ingredient recipes. When I glimpsed this recipe over, the ingredient list was too simple and easy to not give this a try. I measured out in grams the apple and dates and actually found that I used about 30 dates to get to 240g. Just throwing that out there since that was such a huge difference. I guess my dates were really small! Anyways, these turned out so delicious and were seriously so easy to make. If you count your macros, I cut mine into 8 bars, which ended up being about 36C/6F/4P per bar. Not going to talk about how many I ate on Thanksgiving though...

Grain-Free Apple Crumble Bars
Ingredients:
APPLE DATE PASTE

• 2 cups (265g) chopped apple
• 12-14 (240g with pits removed) pitted medjool dates
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup (60g) nut/seed butter (4 Tbsp)

CRUST/CRUMBLE

• 1 cup (300g) apple date paste (above)
• 2/3 cup (80g) coconut flour
• Pinch of salt

APPLE FILLING

• 1/2 cup (150g) apple date paste (above)
• 1-2 (360g) apples, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Combine the 2 cups chopped apple and lemon juice in a high speed blender. Blend until liquified. 
3. Add the rest of the paste ingredients and blend until smooth. 
4. In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the paste with the coconut flour and salt. Mix until sticky and clumpy. 
5. Press half of the dough into a baking pan lined with parchment paper (I used this 7.5x5.5" glass dish). Set the rest aside.
6. In a separate bowl, combine the sliced apples (I used a mandolin to slice them super thin) with 1/2 cup of the paste, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Toss to coat.
7. Arrange the apple slices on top of the crust in layers.
8. Crumble the remaining crust over top. Press in lightly.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350F or until toasty golden brown on top.
10. Remove from the oven. Cool for 10-15 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Original recipe found here