When I was young, I had a friend who used to say, “An apple without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.” She would eat a slice of cheddar cheese with her apple pie, and I thought it was bizarre.
A decade or two later, I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and I cooked up a little experiment in the kitchen while playing with my apple crisp recipe.
It turned out AMAZING with one of my all-time favorites: cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese gets added to the apple mixture layer, and the yum factor gets taken up a notch or six. The depth of flavor is perfect. Apple crisp is one of my hubby’s all-time favorite desserts, and he said it was the best he’d ever had, and that’s saying something! The kids were all over it, too. They said it was “WAY better than last time!”
Since I’m not a fan of large chunks of cooked fruit, I diced them smaller (half an inch or less), and that, combined with the cottage cheese addition, left me with a warm, cinnamony, wonderfully creamy mouthful of apple goodness. The oats and coconut palm sugar crunch in the topping are the perfect finish.
It’s the best apple crisp I’ve ever made!
Easy Apple Crisp (With a Secret Ingredient)
Ingredients
Filling:
- 2 cups apples diced fairly small
- 1/3 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon rice flour
Topping:
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1/2 cup avocado oil or melted butter or coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F
- Combine all ingredients for filling and stir well
- Combine all ingredients for topping in a separate bowl
- Portion out the filling into 5-6 ramekins (or use a small glass baking pan)
- Divide topping evenly
- Bake for 20 minutes if using ramekins (if using one single baking dish, it may take longer to bake. Keep a close eye after 20 minutes, and remove from oven when filling bubbles up, or when topping is golden brown) .
Nutrition
Frances
I’ve never added cottage cheese to an apple crisp before, can’t wait to try it!
Marissa
I’ve done cream cheese in apple crumble pie and we love that, so I’ll have to give this a try. Maybe next week for our B&B guests!
MamaV
I made this for breakfast this morning 🙂
I substituted an almond flour topping for more protein and served it with a pat of cultured butter… Deliciously healthy dessert for breakfast!
Beth
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it! It was a hit at my house too 🙂
Linda Hermanson
Are the pieces of the cottage cheese visible in the finished dessert, or do they melt away into the filling as it cooks?
Beth
They don’t melt away exactly, but they aren’t noticeable either – they kind of just blend in and look like smaller bits of apple, maybe. It’s all gooey and warm with cinnamon and coconut palm sugar. 🙂
Linda Hermanson
Thanks! I am anxious to try the recipe!
MamaV
Looks yummy!