Apple and Walnut bars

Today was a picture perfect Fall day in Raleigh. It was really nice to look out of the windows and find the trees swaying in the bright sunshine and showering the yard with red and brown leaves. It made me want to bake and bake something with apples. After some looking about I found this recipe in a Dec 2007 issue of Cooking Light. It has no butter and has apples and walnuts as the star ingredients. What a healthy dessert!

And I love healthy desserts. Just to clarify my definition of healthy: something with none or very little fat, not too much sugar and something with fruit. Though I do have to make an exception for the third rule with chocolate. I just haven't found a dessert I like which combines chocolate and fruit yet.

Anyways this recipe has no butter (except for brushing the pan). And did I mention it has fruit and nuts? The original recipe called for 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup raisins. I reduced the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup and didn't use any raisins. The bars came out quite nice, not too sweet, soft and very fruity and nutty. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup All purpose flour

2 teaspoons Aluminium free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4th cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups peeled and chopped apples

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and run through a sieve.

- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until the sugar dissolves.

- Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir till well combined.

- Fold in the apples and walnuts.

- Line a 9-inch pan with foil and brush it lightly with butter.

- Spread the batter evenly onto the pan.

- Bake in a 350F oven for 40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

- Cut into rectangles and serve.

Makes around 10 bars.

They are best when warm and a dollop of vanilla ice-cream would be a perfect pairing. So much for being healthy :)