Sweet Potato Apple Crisp (Vegan)

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Sweet Potato Apple Crisp (Vegan)

A vegan crisp/crumble made with Japanese sweet potato and just one apple for a healthier take on the traditional dessert. Great way to sneak another vegetable into dinner tonight!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 large Japanese Sweet Potato
• 1 large Granny Smith apple or two small
• 4 tsp Lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp Corn starch

Topping

• 1/2 cup Brown sugar
• 3/4 cup Oats, uncooked
• 1/4 cup Steel cut oats
• 1/3 cup Vegan butter
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1/4 cup Crushed hazelnuts, or your favorite nut (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees

2. Peel the potato and apple making sure to remove any bruised parts

3. Finely chop the potato and apple into very very fine pieces as the potato is slightly starchier than the apple. As thin as you can chop being sure to make every piece even. Apple pieces can be slightly thicker. You can do slices or more square pieces as long as they are all even.

4. In a medium sized bowl, add all the filling ingredients (lemon juice, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt) and stir. Pour in the potato and apple pieces and toss about 30 seconds trying to evenly coat the pieces. 

5. Pour the filling into a baking dish (mine is a small oblong one about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide at its widest). If using a large rectangular baking dish double the entire recipe.

6. In a small bowl mix together all the topping ingredients (oats, steel cut oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nuts if using, vegan butter) and toss until the melted butter has saturated all the dry ingredients and has a wet sand consistency.

7. Evenly disperse the topping on your filled baking dish, coating all of the potatoes and apples so that no pieces show through. 

8. Bake in the oven for 55-65 minutes depending on your oven, until the top is crispy but not burnt. 

9. Enjoy with some fresh (vegan) cream or ice cream and if you don't finish it all, you can reheat in the oven at 200 F degrees for about 20 minutes, or enjoy cold from the fridge. 

My identity crisis

Most of the time I identify as an American however there are some occasions where my dual-citizenship confuses my brain and it usually has to do with things in the kitchen. What do I mean exactly? Well, there are various dishes and ingredients that have one name in European English and another name in American English. Apple crisp is one of those things.

Known as apple crumble in Ireland/England, ‘apple crisp’ wouldn’t be found on most menus outside of the States.

Having lived between Ireland and the States for most of my life and having learned my way around the kitchen guided by an Irish mother, I forget way too often which word belongs in which country’s vocabulary. Apple crisp versus apple crumble doesn’t elicit too much confusion especially with American cooking shows broadcast here in Ireland, however there are some ingredient lists that could go very wrong.

Lost in translation – a shopping list

Squash in England is a concentrated sugary syrup that you add to water to create a fruity drink, squash in the States is a vegetable (see: butternut squash). Another example would be coriander which in the States refers to the dried seeds of the cilantro plant whereas in the UK and Ireland, coriander refers to the fresh cilantro plant. Another funny one is a Turnip or Rutabega as it’s sometimes known in the States, which in British/Irish English is known as a Swede.

If you asked an American to go to the supermarket and pick up some squash with coriander and a swede, you might end up with a handsome Swedish person and two very different ingredients to what you were expecting.

Sweet potato crisp???

I’m going to confuse you even more now because…this apple crumble/crisp is actually made of sweet potato and only has one apple in it. If you’ve seen the post for my Sweet Potato Spice Cake you already know that I find Japanese sweet potatoes to be almost identical to apples in texture and light flavor. By chopping up just one large Japanese sweet potato and tossing it with a yummy cinnamon and brown sugar mixture, you can imitate the flavor of traditional apple crisp while getting a dose of hidden vegetables and lots of B vitamins.

Of course this is a veganized version – if for whatever reason you are vegan averse, you can use regular butter instead of a vegan version to make this non-vegan. I guess if you aren’t a vegan and only have regular butter lying around I can see why you might make the substitute, but honestly vegan butter (which is also most margarines and ‘buttery spreads’) is way more commonly used than people realize because it’s cheaper than regular dairy butter. If you’re a real purist about your dairy (as many Irish people are with their love for Kerrygold butter and relationship with dairy farming) then definitely make that switch, otherwise make this recipe as it is because it’s super tasty!

There is minimal prep/effort involved, you just have to let the dish do it’s magic in the oven for about an hour and then feel free to put a dollop of your favorite cream/ice cream on top and you have a cinnamon-y, crunchy, healthy dish of your dreams!

This makes a small serving for about 5 people, but if you have a larger baking dish then double the recipe for a much larger batch. One of the best things about crumbles/crisps is that every time you reheat it, the flavours seem to have fused together a bit more for an even tastier serving! Don’t forget to serve with a dollop of your favourite cream/ice cream whether it’s vegan or not. There’s nothing better than drenching a warm cinnamon-y dish with some creamy goodness.