My father’s birthday fell last Saturday, and because temperatures had been over 100°F the week before, I offered to invite everyone over to ice cream to celebrate. In that kind of scorching weather, Dad loved the sound of my idea, so on Friday night, we made plans to drive through town to the ice cream shop the next day, shortly after lunch.
Somehow, though, the clouds came overnight and the temperature dropped more than 30°F, so when I got out of bed on Saturday morning, I almost dove under the covers. Crazy bipolar climate of California! We
waited all morning for the sun to start peeking through the clouds, But even though he never did, everyone else agreed that they were craving ice cream. I put on a big sweatshirt, got in the car, and examined the sweet flavors with my family.
Although Mississippi Mud always calls me by my name (I’m a big chocolate addict, after all!), I left with nothing. My fingers would have frozen to the cone the moment I came out! I don’t mix exactly well with the cold… But the rest of my family happily licked their sorbet, sorbet, and ice cream cones as we walked back to the car.
I
spent the rest of the day thinking about cold fall weather and cozy comfort meals, so later that weekend, I cooked a batch of this slow-cooker apple pie filling to satisfy my cravings. With its warm cinnamon smell floating around the house, my whole family followed their noses into the kitchen and couldn’t wait to taste a taste. Unlike store-bought canned fillers, this easy recipe is much healthier! It contains no high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar or artificial ingredients. Desserts don’t necessarily need any of them to taste delicious! Instead, this homemade version is made with healthy ingredients, which makes it clean and friendly to eat, and basically healthy enough for breakfast!
Our homemade cake filling starts with large, juicy fresh apples. I used all the reds for this batch because they are sweeter than green ones and therefore require less additional sweetener. I’ve tried Fuji, Jazz, and Honeycrisp apples in this recipe, and they all work great!
If you’re a traditionalist and prefer Granny Smiths for your cake fillings, they’d be fine too, but I suggest you increase the sweetener to compensate for its sour taste. Another option you could try would be half green and half red. You get the best of both worlds, and that’s perfect for indecisive people like me!
To help prevent the apples from browning, we’ll sprinkle them with a little freshly squeezed lemon juice while creating the syrup to pour on top. I promise you can’t taste citrus when we finish cooking, just sweet apples!
Syrup is a combination of water, maple syrup, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. I love hot spices and generally mix more than most recipes, but my family agreed that this cake filling had the perfect amount! You’ll cook those ingredients on the stove for a few minutes to activate the cornstarch and make it thicken the mixture before pouring that cinnamon goodness over the apples in the slow cooker.
Then all that’s left to do is wait for the slow cooker to work its magic and make your house smell like autumn!
And yes, we ate this by spoonfuls… And about oatmeal… And on top of the pancakes… And with ice cream…
But I managed to save enough to use on another new recipe, so stay tuned! 😉 And when you make your own, remember to take a photo and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself. (That guarantees I’ll see your photo!) 🙂 I’d love to see your healthy slow-cooked apple pie filling!
View nutrition information
