3-Ingredient Healthy Apricot Fruit Crisp
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This Healthy Apricot Crisp uses only 3 ingredients and none of them is a boxed mix! It's a super easy, delicious dessert that's incredibly healthy too!
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 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.
Baking with Coconut Butter and this Easy Fruit Crisp
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.
Recipe Notes
- CHILL! IMPORTANT! You must chill the crisp after baking or it will not work. Please do not skip this step!
- Fruit Options: You can substitute other fruits for the apricots. Use blueberries, cranberries, rhubarb, or other berries for a low-glycemic treat. Peaches or plums would be great too. You may need to increase the amount of fruit depending on type – the bottom should be a solid layer.
- Sweetener Options: You may use any other sweetener of choice instead of honey. You may want to adjust the amount if using another sweetener. 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. Some think that honey isn't vegan. I actually disagree, but if you want to avoid honey for this or some other reason, you can use another sweetener of course.
- Homemade Coconut Butter Option: Here's how to make your own Homemade Coconut Butter.
Healthy Apricot Crisp
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups apricots (420 grams) (pitted and quartered)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 6 tablespoons coconut butter (50 grams)
- additional fruit or nuts for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F.
- 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.
- Toss with honey (or other sweetener) and flatten out.
- Soften coconut butter by placing it in a heat resistant jar, and warming it in a pan / bowl of hot water and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. If needed, add a small amount of coconut oil to the butter, 1 teaspoon at a time, and stir. See recipe notes for details. You want the butter to be like cold molasses. If it's too runny, it won't stay on top of the fruit.
- Drizzle coconut butter over the fruit and spread it around with the back of the spoon.
- If desired, place extra fruit or nuts on top of the coconut butter.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top of the crisp is golden brown. At this point the topping will be mushy and dry-looking.
- While the crisp is still hot, cut into squares (it's hard to cut nicely when it's cold and hard).
- 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”.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
- IMPORTANT: CHILL! You must chill the crisp after baking or it will not work. Please do not skip this step.
- Fruit Options: You can substitute other fruits for the apricots. Use blueberries, cranberries, rhubarb, or other berries for a low-glycemic treat. Peaches or plums would be great too. You may need to increase the amount of fruit depending on type – the bottom should be a solid layer.
- Sweetener Options: You may use any other sweetener of choice instead of honey. You may want to adjust the amount if using another sweetener. 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. Some think that honey isn't vegan. I actually disagree, but if you want to avoid honey for this or some other reason, you can use another sweetener of course.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
Would love to hear how you like this crisp after you make it!
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 friendlysurrounding 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.
I made this morning with fresh organic strawberries and used your homemade coconut butter recipe for the top – I need help – it browned, but did not get at all crisp – I have delicious mush. Thanks!
Did you cool it? It has to be cold for the oils to harden.
Not just to room temperature but chilled in the fridge.
This sounds amazing! I would be honored to have you stop by to share with us at Inspire Us Tuesday.
(Link deleted by Whole New Mom due to it not working anymore)
This looks so good! Thank you both for sharing. I am certainly going to try it.
Hope you enjoy!
The picture appears to have some kind of coconut flour or SOMETHING making the “crisp”. Are you sure there’s nothing but fruit, honey and oil? If so, what’s in the picture on the top of your apricots?
Coconut oil and coconut butter are different products. Confusing, as we think of butter as an fat like oil, but it’s more like butter in the nut sense. Coconut oil is the oil that the is pressed out of the coconut, coconut butter is all the coconut ‘meat’ blended up smooth (like peanut butter), so it has the body from the coconut meat. Hope that helps!
I made this today with fresh picked organic blackberries.
I followed all the instructions to the letter.
I’m sorry but there is not nearly enough topping to cover 1/2 of the 8″ round pan.
6 Tbsp of coconut butter just looked pitiful drizzled on.
Still i stuck with the instructions imagining it would swell up and cover my berries magically.
But alas disappointment.
How does 6 tablespoons give you so much coverage and thickness?
It’s 90 degrees in my house so my coconut butter drizzled very well.
Sadness… hot black berries, no crisp worth mentioning.
There has to be a typo.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. No, 6 tbsp is not a typo, and I’ve made it a number of times. I agree before baking it does look rather sparse. I guess when I think about it I do spread it around a bit. It doesn’t cover the top completely, there is fruit sticking out especially the sides, and I try to keep the coconut butter mostly on the top instead of sinking between the fruit. Maybe with blackberries vs. apricots there was more space for the coconut butter to fall down? The fruit layer should be pretty solid. Or maybe our coconut butter is different?
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me either :(. Some of the coconut butter went in the cracks of the apricots and what was left on top ended up just being kind of like a thin crust. The bottom ended up being very watery too. Not thick at all. Wonder if it would help to leave the coconut butter more solid and spread it on? I’m not sure. Your pictures of the recipe look beautiful!
Hmm…I’m on holiday now, but when I get back I’ll make it again. I would chalk it up to me having dry apricots before, but I made it with peaches too, which were definitely not dry, and while it was moist it wasn’t watery. The coconut butter was spreadable but not ‘watery’ thin, when I’ve made it. I’ll try and come up with better descriptions how to make it, maybe process photos would help.
I LOVE this idea. Going to make it tomorrow using blueberries…wonderful! Thanks to both of you for sharing.
You are so welcome! Good to hear from you again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe – hope you like it!
Wow, Adrienne this recipe looks great! I cannot wait to try it. Looks so easy and healthy.
Best, Phyllis
Thanks! I’m sure Naomi will be thrilled to hear what you think!
Easy and healthy recipes are the best! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
I don’t understand, what’s the top made of plz? :O)
Fruit and sweetener on the bottom, coconut butter on the top! 🙂
Hi,
I wonder how the fruit vil become crisp without adding any flour. (Coconut flour)
I always understood the title fruit ‘crisp’ to refer to the topping, not the fruit itself, being crisp. I think all baked fruit is rather soggy. Some fruit may be more watery and require some thickener, but the apricots worked perfectly. And I’ve made it with peaches too.
Oh this looks delish!!! Just picked up some coconut manna today! I am pinning this- my kids are sure to love it! Thanks! May try it with blueberries too!
I think the blueberries would be amazing!
Blueberries would be amazing!! Picking up coconut manna today was fate smiling 🙂