Peanut Butter Apple Crumble (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

When you pop this easy-to-make Peanut Butter Apple Crumble into the oven, just watch your family flock to the kitchen as the amazing aroma fills your home. The scent of sweet baked apples, warm peanut butter, cinnamon, and maple mingle beautifully in the air. If this perfect apple dessert smells this good, can you even imagine how great it tastes?

An Apple Crumble Recipe Infused with Peanut Butter

Sliced apples and peanut butter is a classic snack combo and a match made in flavor heaven! We took the inspiration of the great apple and peanut butter pairing and turned it into a dessert recipe that is new and different, but also familiar and oh-so deliciously comforting. When apple season rolls around (or any time of the year) grab some Honeycrisps and pair them with a few pantry ingredients, many (or all) of which you probably already have on hand.

Ingredients to make Peanut Butter apple Crisp

Here are the basic pantry ingredients and other foods to gather to get this apple crumble recipe with peanut butter topping in the oven and baking away:

• apples – you can use any favorite baking variety of apples; we recommend Honeycrisp
• oats – use old-fashioned rolled oats
• pure maple syrup – the only sweetener in this recipe, some is used in the apple filling and some is used in the peanut butter crumble topping
• peanut butter – use any brand of natural creamy peanut butter
• almond flour
• coconut oil – can also use butter, if that’s what you have on hand (use coconut oil for a dairy-free apple crisp)
• arrowroot starch – also called arrowroot powder, sued for thickening the filling; may also use cornstarch, if that’s what you have on hand
• dry-roasted peanuts
• ground cinnamon
• sea salt

How to make this apple Crumble with peanut butter

This recipe comes together quickly in these 4 basic steps:

1. Slice and toss the apples: Preheat the oven. Slice the apples and toss them in a bowl with the arrowroot starch, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Spread the apple filling mixture in an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish.
2. Make the crumble topping: In the same bowl, combine the peanut butter and maple syrup. Stir in the rolled oats, almond flour, chopped peanuts, and salt; use a fork to mix the crumble topping together. Next, mix in the solid (not melted) coconut oil.
3. Bake the peanut butter apple crumble: Gently spoon and press the crumble mixture over the apple filling in the baking dish. Bake, uncovered, in the oven for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, tent the apple crisp loosely with foil to protect the topping from burning. Return to the oven and bake 30 minutes more.
4. Cool and serve: Remove the apple crumble from the oven. Remove the foil and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. The filling will continue to thicken as the apple crumble cools.

We recommend reading through this blog post for our step-by-step instructions and photo tutorial showing you exactly how to make this peanut butter apple crumble recipe. For the printable recipe card, including complete directions, ingredient amounts, and nutrition analysis that lists calories, protein, carbohydrates, sodium, and more per serving, continue to scroll down.

What’s the Difference between an Apple Crisp and an apple crumble?

That’s a good question! A crisp and a crumble are both used to describe a fruit dessert that is covered with a crumble streusel-type topping. Some people debate that a crumble topping contains nuts, but no oats. Other people argue the opposite – that a crumble includes oats and nuts, while a crisp topping only includes flour and butter. Whether you call it an apple crisp and an apple crumble, we know you’re going to find the peanut butter-apple bake dessert to be a huge hit in your household. We’re so excited for you to bake it yourself!

The Best Apples to Use to make apple Crumble

We recommend that you use Honeycrisp apples in this crumble recipe. That is the variety that our taste testers preferred the most, and the texture of Honeycrisp apples holds up well after baking in the oven. However, you can use any favorite baking variety of apple. Some other good apple choices are Jonagold, Braeburn, Pink Lady (or Cripps), Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith. The main thing to remember when selecting an apple variety for a baked recipe is that there are only a few apples that are much better for raw snacking than they are for baking, and those varieties are Gala, Fuji, and Red Delicious.

How this Apple Crisp with Peanut Butter Crumble Fits in special diets

The combination of real-food ingredients in this apple crumble recipe makes it delicious for everyone who is craving a comforting apple dessert. But another beautiful thing about this recipe is that it also works great if you’re serving someone who is following a special diet or has an allergy or sensitivity to certain ingredients.

• Gluten-free – this recipe is made with all gluten-free ingredients; if you are serving it to someone who has celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, be sure to verify that the oats you’re using are certified gluten-free oats
• Dairy-free – by using coconut oil in place of the more traditional butter, this recipe is a dairy-free apple crumble dessert; we also think that coconut oil provides a delicious flavor profile that is just right in this peanut butter apple crisp
• Egg-free – this recipe doesn’t use any eggs
• Vegetarian and Vegan – since this recipe doesn’t use any eggs, dairy products, or honey, it is 100% plant-based
• Paleo – if your Paleo diet allows for oats (many do), then this recipe qualifies as a Paleo friendly dessert recipe where maple syrup is the only sweetener used

Perfect occasions to serve this apple crumble recipe

This peanut butter apple crumble is an obvious great choice for serving during fall gatherings, when apples are fully in season. Here are some wonderful times to serve this warm crumble recipe:

• fall gatherings and cook-outs
• game days
• fall showers and bridal parties
• small dinner parties
• a quiet weekend at home

Though apples are in season from September to November, you don’t have to only serve this apple dessert in the autumn. You can bake this peanut butter apple crumble whenever you’d like, which we know will be often!

Make-Ahead instructions and How to store

You can prep this recipe up to 2 days prior to serving it. If you prefer to serve it warm (we highly recommended doing that and enjoying it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream), then it’s easy to reheat. To warm the pre-baked crisp, reheat it in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes, covered loosely with foil to prevent the topping from getting too brown. Store leftovers in a covered container at room temperature or the refrigerator for up to 3 days (though we doubt it will last that long)!.

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Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Rachel of Half Acre House

For ultimate success, we highly recommend reading the tips in the full blog post above. All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words. Link back to the source recipe here on The Real Food Dietitians. Thank you!