Half the pleasure of this cobbler is the aroma of apples and cinnamon and maple as they bake … and the other half is eating it warm out of the oven topped with a very vanilla frozen dessert (our favorite is Luna & Larry’s vanilla-flavored Coconut Bliss made from the pure goodness of naturally rich coconut milk). 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray 8x12” baking dish with olive oil cooking spray.  

2. In medium bowl, blend together:

1½ cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup maple sugar*

2 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg 

3. Cut in with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly:

10 Tbsp Earth Balance buttery sticks, softened (1 stick plus 2 Tbsp) 

4. Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture; press remaining crumbs into bottom of baking dish. 

5. Peel and slice over crumb crust:

4 Granny Smith apples 

6. Drizzle over apple slices:

3 Tbsp maple syrup 

7. Combine reserved crumb mixture with:

¾ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

8. Sprinkle crumb/nut mixture evenly over apples. 

9. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until apples are tender. 

10. Pour over baked cobbler:

1/3 cup orange juice (I’ve also used orange/pineapple juice) 

11. Let cool for 5 minutes; cut into 8 bars and serve warm topped with your favorite frozen vanilla dessert. 

*NOTE: The only type of maple sugar we could find consisted of coarse, hard chunks that don’t dissolve while baking, so I processed the maple sugar in a high-powered blender for a finer texture.