{I love easy recipes. I mean – I NEED them with how busy my life is.  Like chia pudding and no-bake cookies. If you're like me, you will love what Naomi Huzovicova of Almost Bananas has for us today. A fabulous 3 Ingredient Shortbread Recipe that's simply ingenius! Turns out if you bake one of my favorite ingredients, coconut butter, you get a shortbread!  Who'd have thunk?! 

Read on to get this great simple recipe that's sure to please.}

As I've mentioned before, apricots are abundant in the area where I live. The smell of apricots is the smell of summer to my husband.

His mother cans jars and jars of them for the family to eat through the winter. They eat them as a side dish with meat, which I found strange at first but it is quite tasty.

My in-laws have seven trees, and each one is a little different: large or small, juicy or dry, bursting with flavour or more bland, early ripening or late. My father in law keeps the ground free of rotting fruit by diligently picking up all the fallen fruit to ferment. He mashed it a bit, dumps it in a barrel and leaves to to bubble away, and then takes it to someone to ‘burn' into strong schnapps.

This year I made unsweetened apricot puree, dried them, made a fermented spread, and a syrup to make juice. I've eaten piles and piles fresh.

But by far the best way I've eaten apricots is in this crisp recipe.

The idea of baking coconut butter (or manna) on fruit came from my sister, Miwa. Baking coconut butter renders it like shortbread when it cools. The baking brings out the sweetness of the coconut and the fruit keeps it nice and moist. And I can't even describe the texture of the shortbread topping. Buttery smooth, naturally sweet, just…delicious. You have to try it to understand.

And it couldn't be easier to make. Three ingredients!! Or even two, if you don't want a sweetener with the fruit.

I'm a huge fan of easy to make recipes that are also healthy and delicious, treats like 3-Ingredient Amazeballs and Watermelon and Lemon Balm Sorbet.

Any fruit can be used, although as Smitten Kitchen observed, the tartness of apricots mellows after chilling so this crisp makes it a particularly great pairing. If you use a different fruit, you may want to adjust the amount of sweetener.

If you're looking for a low carb option, use blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries, or even cranberries (but you might need some added sweetener for the latter option).

After baking, you'll want to keep the crisp refrigerated – if it sits too long at room temperature (at least in hot weather), the crisp gets rather soggy.

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What You Will Need

• Apricots, Pitted and Quartered (other fruits.  Use blueberries, cranberries, or other berries for a low-glycemic treat)
• Honey (or sweetener of choice.  Stevia would be a good AIP alternative.  See this post on how to use stevia)
• Coconut Butter (Here's how to make your own Homemade Coconut Butter)
• Stevia Scoop (if using stevia)

3-Ingredient Apricot Shortbread Crisp - paleo & vegan with low carb option

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Serves 8 inch round pan     adjust servings

Only 3 Whole Food Ingredients and you can have a lovely apricot fruit crisp that's paleo, vegan, and sugar-free. A low carb option is provided as well.

Ingredients

• 2 generous cups / 420g apricots, pitted and quartered (other fruits. Use blueberries, cranberries, or other berries for a low glycemic treat.) You may need to increase the amount of fruit depending on type, the bottom should be a solid layer.
• 2 tbsp honey (or sweetener of choice to taste. 1 scoop stevia would be a good AIP alternative. See this post on how to use stevia. If using cranberries, more sweetener will be needed.)
• 6 tbsp / 50g coconut butter (Here's how to make your own Homemade Coconut Butter)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Fill bottom of pan with apricots or other fruit. If you are using a different size pan, you want a pretty solid layer along the bottom. Also, if you are using a different kind of fruit you may need more than the prescribed amount. Again, put in enough that the bottom is packed, to prevent the coconut butter from falling through.
3. Toss with honey (or other sweetener) and flatten out.
4. Drizzle coconut butter over the fruit and spread it around with the back of the spoon. If the coconut butter is solid, put the required coconut butter in a jar inside a bowl of hot water until it becomes runnyish (like cold molasses. If it's too runny, it will leak down as well).
5. Bake for 20 min, or until the top of the crisp is golden brown. At this point the topping will be mushy and dry-looking.
6. While the crisp is still hot, cut into squares (it's hard to cut nicely when it's cold and hard).
7. After it cools to room temperature, put in the fridge until chilled. DO NOT SKIP chilling it in the fridge as the oils need to cool in order to harden and provide that shortbread "butteryness".
8. Serve and enjoy.

by Adrienne

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How about you? What fruit would you use?
What's your favorite Easy Healthy Dessert?

Naomi is originally from Canada but is now a wife and mom in Slovakia. She tries to live each day as a follower of Christ in the chaos of caring for children. Using real food and creating an environmentally-friendly surrounding for her family is a priority. She dreams of a little farm while living in an apartment, enjoys handmade creations, and still doesn’t like brussels sprouts. Naomi shares her food creations and photos of Slovakia at Almost Bananas. She looks forward to connecting with you on Pinterest, Google+, and Facebook.