“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.”
– Ruth Reichl

Imma stop you right now. I know how this goes, you open a blog post about food and you expect 3 things. A story about why I made it, the recipe and pictures.

I have no pictures. We ate it. I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait.

There’s no story either. My mum and step-dad were coming round for dinner last night (we made a roasted cauliflower, new potato and mushroom curry which was insanely good – yay, go my wife for being an awesome cook!) but we needed a dessert.

I found a couple of recipes I liked but each had elements of the other I wanted to include. So I made my own! Specific thanks to Bosh! for the Salted Caramel recipe in particular from their UK show “Living on the Veg“.

So without further ado, or description of the weather outside or why I love comfort food. Here’s a recipe you should try!

For the filling:

• 1 x Pink Lady apple
• 1 x cooking apple
• 1 x braeburn apple
• 3 x rocha pears
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

For the salted caramel:

• 100g pitted dates (Medjool desirable)
• 120ml hot water
• Large pinch flaked sea salt

For the crumble/crisp topping:

• 75g vegan butter / coconut oil
• 50g Soft Brown Sugar
• 115g all-purpose flour
• 1 heaped tablespoons ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 small handful rolled oats

Steps:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F)
2. Peel, core and chop apples and pears into cubes, about the size of a large thumbnail
3. Melt the coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat and then add the apples, pears, salt, cinnamon and maple syrup then cook for 10 minutes until soft
4. Whilst the fruit is cooking add the topping ingredients to a bowl and (using your hands) combine into a breadcrumb style texture
5. Add the dates, water and salt to a blender / nutribullet and blend until smooth
6. Take the fruit off of the heat and stir in the date caramel mixture to combine then pour contents into an over proof dish
7. Top with the crumble mixture and lightly press down to ensure all gaps are filled
8. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes then serve piping hot with vegan custard or cream-alternative

Enjoy!