Apple Popsicles with Date Caramel Crumble

Apple popsicles are a delicious frozen dessert and a great way to use up apples. I've added a date caramel and crumble/crisp topping to make these easy vegan ice lollies extra special.

Apple Popsicles

These apple popsicles are a great way to use up loads of apples. They taste just like a frozen apple crumble/apple crisp, so you can indulge in the traditional comfort dessert on a hot late summer day! Simply pureeing cooked apples and freezing them makes a wonderfully indulgent-tasting ice lolly, but it's filled with natural fruit goodness.

These popsicles are vegan and refined-sugar-free, plus you can easily make them gluten-free by swapping the plain flour for buckwheat flour and using gluten-free oats. If you have any extra applesauce left over, it’s perfect over yogurt, porridge or overnight oats. You could also use it to lighten the fat content of my yogurt muffins and healthier carrot cake. For a fun green treat, try my apple kale cake!

Apples

Ah, the glut. That point when a carefully-tended garden rewards hard work by bestowing far more food than any family could ever eat.

As a rubbish gardener, excessive bounties of homegrown vegetables isn’t an issue that I have to deal with often. I’m more likely to tapdance across the kitchen floor after finding two kale leaves that haven’t been turned into lace by slugs. However, I absolutely love partaking of the gluts of others! Before we moved and had our own trees, my sister in law regularly thrust heaving bags of apples at us when we visited. Heaven.

Reduce food waste

It's so wonderful when someone comes to visit laden with bags of beets, courgettes and potatoes that they are sick of the site of. There’s something so neighbourly about gluts and sharing food. Appear on my doorstep with your gluts and I shall cook for you and bake you vegetable cakes. Form an orderly queue.

No gardener wants to just throw edible food onto the compost heap, so what can’t be used, stored, preserved or frozen is often given away. It’s always so well-received, isn’t it? I love dreaming up recipes and testing them in the kitchen, so I see glut-gifts from friends as a wonderful challenge. It’s great to fill the veg drawer and set about making sure that every last scrap of those lovingly-grown fruits and veg are used in various meals and even desserts.

Ways to use up apples

The one glut that I do have now is apples. Our trees reward us for ignoring them by raining fruit upon us daily. Every morning I send my wellie-clad children out to collect our fruity pearls and we store them in apple trays that would otherwise be thrown out at the supermarkets. We give them away and we add stewed apples to porridge every morning. Many of them end up in the freezer as applesauce, and in this case, apple crumble ice lollies to make the most of the late summer sunshine.

Ways to use up late summer fruit and vegetables

Storing gluts mean they can last through the winter months.

• Broad beans can be blanched in boiling water for a few minutes and then frozen.
• Carrots can be stored in a box of sand to make them last for a few months.
• Courgettes will last for longer in a cool dry place, rather than the fridge, but don’t store well. Spiralising them to use instead of pasta is a healthy way to use them up quickly.
• Store unwashed potatoes in paper bags or hessian sacks in a cool dark place.
• Semi-dry sliced tomatoes in a very low oven for a few hours, then store in sterilised jar of oil and use in pasta, soups and sauces.

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Apple Popsicles with Date Caramel Crumble

Kate Hackworthy | Veggie Desserts

These popsicles are a great way to use up loads of apples and they taste just like a frozen apple crumble, so you can indulge in the traditional British comfort dessert on a hot summer day! They’re vegan and refined-sugar-free.
Make them gluten-free by swapping the plain flour for buckwheat flour and using gluten-free oats. 

5 from 11 votes

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 12

Calories 180 kcal

Ingredients

 

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• 8 apples peeled, cored and sliced
• 240 ml water
• 3 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the date caramel

• 15 medjool dates pitted (or standard dates soaked in warm water for an hour)
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• 5-10 tablespoons of non-dairy milk almond works well
• ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the crumble

• 1½ teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoon oats
• 1 ½ tablespoon plain flour
• 1 tablespoon pecans finely chopped

Instructions

 

• First, make the applesauce. In a saucepan over a medium heat, combine apples, water, honey and cinnamon. Cook uncovered, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until the apples are very soft. 
• Allow to cool slightly, then roughly puree with a blender, hand held electric blender or food processor, keeping some large pieces for texture. 
• Allow to cool completely, then fill ice lolly moulds and freeze for a few hours or overnight.

Meanwhile, make the toppings.

For the date caramel

• Add the pitted dates, salt and 5 tablespoons of milk to a blender or mini processor and whiz until smooth. Add more milk if necessary to make it a thick drippy consistency. Set aside or store in the fridge.

For the crumble topping

• In a small bowl, beat the coconut oil and maple syrup together well. Stir in the oats, flour and pecans, then rub the ingredients together with fingertips until it forms coarse crumbs.
• In a frying pan over a medium heat, toast the mixture for a few minutes, stirring often, until it is golden. Set aside.

To assemble

• When the lollies are set, run them under hot water to remove them from the molds. Dip them into the caramel and then into the crumble topping. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 180kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSodium: 11mgPotassium: 356mgFiber: 5gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 110IUVitamin C: 5.6mgCalcium: 42mgIron: 0.5mg

The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.

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