Apple Oatmeal Bites with 'Cinnamon-Roll' Apple Butter

HomeClinics & ProgramsELLICSR KitchenApple Oatmeal Bites with 'Cinnamon-Roll' Apple Butter

Skill Level	Easy

Preparation Time	Cookies (10 minutes), Apple Butter (15 minutes)	Total Time	Cookies (25 minutes), Apple Butter (4 hours)
Servings	12 (2 bites each)	Cost Per Serving	$0.82

Apple Oatmeal Bites

1 1/4 cup	Large Flake Oats
3/4 cup	Spelt Flour or any flour
1	Egg (or replace with 1 tbsp ground flax and 3 tbsp water)
1/2 tsp	Baking Soda
1/2 tsp	Baking Powder
1/2 cup	Maple Syrup
1/2 cup	Apple Butter or Apple Sauce
1	Apple (your favourite variety), diced or grated
1/4 cup	Dates, small dice
1/4 cup	Almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp	Ground Cinnamon, Ground Nutmeg

Cinnamon-Roll Apple Butter

2 lbs	Apples (Granny Smith, Macintosh or Honey Crisp), cored and quartered
1 tbsp	Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp	Ground Cinnamon
3 tbsp	Brown Sugar
Spice Package	1 cinnamon stick, 5 whole cloves, 1 whole star anise
1 tbsp	Malt Powder (optional)
1/2 tsp	Sea Salt (optional)

To make the cinnamon-roll apple butter, add all your apple slices to a slow cooker or large pot. Add your apple cider vinegar and spice package. Set the temp to low, and cook for about 3 and a half hours.
Remove spice bag, and safely transfer to blender, or blend in the pot with a hand blender.
Add the ground cinnamon, brown sugar, malt powder (optional) and sea salt (optional), and mix well. Turn heat up to high until it starts to bubble, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook on medium for 45 minutes more. Remove from heat and allow to cool before storing.
For the cookies, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Mix wet and dry ingredients separately and then combine. Use a spoon to portion out about 24 cookies and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

PDF link to nutrition facts for Apple Oatmeal Bites with 'Cinnamon-Roll' Apple Butter

Oats give these cookies extra staying power thanks to a type of soluble fibre called beta glucan. Souble fibre helps to keep your blood sugar stable which can keep you feeling full for longer.
A half cup of uncooked large-flake oats contains 3 grams of beta glucan fibre which has been shown to lower “lousy” LDL cholesterol by 8 to 20%. Each 1% reduction in cholesterol reduces heart disease risk by 2%.
Diets high in fibre from whole grains may help lower breast cancer risk. A study of over 35,000 women in the United Kingdom showed that pre-menopausal women who ate 13 grams of fibre from whole grains each day had a 40% lower risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who only ate 4 grams of fibre from whole grains each day.