Despite the fact the mercury is reading 85 degrees tonight as I write this, I am thinking Fall.  To help force my most-loved season along, the girls and I decided to pick our first-ever crop of apples from two of our apple trees and enjoy them for dinner in our favorite  baked apple form:  a crisp.

Because my youngest is still on a non-dairy diet, I continue striving to find new ways of tweaking our favorite recipes to make them dairy-free.  This recipe is one of those such experiments.  I wanted to substitute the butter in a traditional crisp, without losing the earthy, creamy flavor I think butter brings to the table.  I ended up using a combination of coconut oil, for the fat content, and whole wheat flour for the earthiness factor.  The crisp turned out quite nicely, without any hint of a coconut flavor that sometimes makes its way into recipes where I substitute butter with coconut oil.

I hope you enjoy this yummy fall treat!

Dairy Free Apple Crisp

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Heat the above ingredients in a small saucepan until the honey becomes runny.  Pour this mixture over 6 cups of sliced, fresh apples.

Pour the apple honey mixture into a 9X9 baking pan.

In a separate bowl, mix together:

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut in 5 tablespoons of coconut oil.  Crumble the oat mixture over the apple mixture.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until the top is crunchy and golden brown.  Enjoy!

*A note about all my recipes:  I use all organic ingredients, local when available.  I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified.  All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished.  All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.