[Rochester]

Originally Posted by lovemyboy

I wonder if there is a way to make it with apple juice or agave or something instead of brown sugar. Hmmmm....

I've made it with date sugar (a natural sweetener) in place of brown sugar.

Cut 1 large apple in cubes; place in ramekin. Melt 1 tablespoon butter; stir in 2 tablespoons wheat flour, 1 tablespoon date sugar, pinch of cinnamon and cloves, and a few pecan pieces. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples. Bake 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Not real low cal or low sugar, but it IS all natural.

[kaplods]

I like apples best raw. In fact, I'm not much of a cooked apple fan unless they're baked into a pie/crumble/cobbler and served warm, with ice cream (and even then I find it "edible" rather than delicious).

For fresh apples, I somtimes would add a smear of peanut butter or Nutella to raw apple slices or make an apple salad (I'd core and cut a bunch of apples into chunks and stir in Cool Whip and one crushed Skor or Heath Bar). If you use a lot of apples, and one of the lower calorie Cool Whip varieties (like the Cool Whip free) the calorie count is pretty reasonable.

Mostly I just eat them raw though, and if you have the refrigeratior space most apple varieties (especially if they're crisp to begin with) last a really long time (weeks to months) in the fridge. Even longer in the "green bags."

I just bought a 5 lb bag of Honey Crisp apples, and I put the whole bag on the bottom shelf of the fridge. They'll last at least a month (or at least they would in theory, I'll eat them all long before they start to get soft).

[Windchime]

McIntosh apples are a little tart for eating raw. They're an old-fashioned apple, kind of like a Jonathan. I love them baked, in a pie or in a crisp and they make awesome sauce. I am guessing they would make really good applebutter, too, as another poster suggested.

[Onederchic]

Thanks for the suggestions ♥