It may sound like a bit of an oddball recipe at first, but once you know the story behind cracked millet apple crisp, you’ll understand, and you’ll love this sweet, crunchy version of everyone’s favorite fall dessert!
One of my family’s most beloved desserts is apple crisp – fall, winter, spring, or even summer. We love a good apple crisp – though I sometimes branch out to make blueberry or peach crisp in the summer (get our recipe here), some of my siblings nearly disown me when I do.
The trouble with this love for apple crips is oatmeal.
See, about 5 years ago, my husband discovered that he was allergic to oats.
What a buzzkill.
Just kidding, I feel bad for him.
Even though we could still make a lot of apple desserts like gluten-free dutch apple pie, apple crisp is kinda the king of fall desserts around here.
So with that diagnosis, I started reserving apple crisp to church potlucks, or occasionally when we’d have friends over for dinner, or sometimes I’d make a really small back for the myself and the kids.
But I couldn’t find a good oat-free crisp topping for Gabe.
Flours make a good crumble, but not a great crisp.
Until finally, just a few months ago, I had a thought; why not take another soft grain and crack it in the blender?
Today, I’m so thankful for that bit of inspiration, because it leads us to Cracked Millet Apple Crisp.
An oat-free alternative that even my husband can enjoy.
This recipe is so easy it’s ludicrous. The only ingredient you may have to look for is millet, which you can easily order from Amazon, or find at a health food store, or the health food section at HEB.
Beyond that, it’s just a matter of pulling out your blender, cracking your millet, and adding brown sugar, butter, and of course, apples and cinnamon.
I like to baked my cracked millet apple crips in individual serving bowls – because it’s fun and no other reason, but this batch is also great for an 8×8 baking dish. 2.5x the recipe for a standard 9×13 pan.
PrintCracked Millet Apple Crisp
Ingredients
- 3 large baking apples (such as granny smith)
- 1 cup millet
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Add your millet to a blender and pulse until millet is somewhat coarser than cornmeal, but you no longer see any whole pieces.
- Melt butter in a medium sized bowl and stir in cracked millet and brown sugar.
- Combine until crumbly and set aside.
- Peel and chop apples to desired size. I like them in 1/2 inch chunks, but if I’m in a hurry I sometimes just slice them in half inch thick slices.
- Add to 8×8 pan, or 4 individual ramekins and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon.
- Top with millet topping.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until apples are soft and topping is beginning to brown.
- Let cool for ten minutes before serving.
- Serve with ice cream and enjoy!
M. says
Thank you, Elise, for this most delicious recipe. We’re big apple crisp fans here, and I LOVE millet, so I thought I’d give this a try. Oh, my! This is wonderful! There WERE leftovers, but the “crisp” did not vanish or become un-crisp when enjoying the next day. IT STAYED CRISPY! Woo-hoo. Winner all around. Have a lovely day.
★★★★★
Elise says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank for the feedback!
Joy says
Love this recipe – made it fat and sugar free and was still delicious. I used water instead of butter, and dates and prunes instead of sugar; It came out so crispy, sweet and indulgent, even with those subs. Thanks so much for the idea to ground millet, also that I didn’t have to cook it saves a step, will use your recipe again, THANKS!
★★★★★