^[1]This dessert is easier and faster to make than an apple pie or apple crisp, and it requires no baking. Instead of refined sugars, this recipe uses dates for sweetness and lemon juice and nutmeg for that extra zing. Bonus: it’s mostly raw as well as soy-free, oil-free, wheat-free, and gluten-free.Courtesy of Colleen Patrick Goudreau’s 30-Day Vegan Challenge ^[2]. ^[2]

Serves: 6

Crumble topping:

• ½ cup walnuts
• 2 pitted dates, chopped

Filling:

• 4 apples, peeled, sliced and diced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sauce (to be tossed with the diced apples above):

• 2 apples, peeled, sliced and diced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5 pitted Medjool dates, chopped
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Blend the walnuts and dates in a food processor until the size is similar to Grape Nuts (do not over-blend or it will be too sticky). Spoon into a small bowl and set aside.

Toss the 4 peeled, sliced and diced apples with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and set aside in a bowl. Next, in the food processor, blend the remaining 2 apples, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 5 pitted dates, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Toss this mixture with the diced apples.

Spoon the apple mixture into six small dessert dishes and sprinkle with the crumble topping.

Tips:
Use a variety of good, hard eating apples, such as Gala, Fuji or Pink Lady in this recipe.

Use Meyer lemons if you can get them, as well as whole nutmeg, grated with a microplane grater, as both are very fragrant.

• Explore more of VegKitchen’s No-Bake and Raw Sweets ^[3].
• Sweet tooth still craving? Here are more Vegan Baking and Sweets ^[4].
• Here are more apple recipes ^[5] on VegKitchen.