These easy apple desserts with simple ingredients turn crisp apples, cinnamon, butter, and pantry staples into sweet treats fit for any autumn table!
A bag of apples on your kitchen counter can turn into a very good dessert without pie crust gymnastics, specialty baking equipment, or a grocery list long enough to require its own shopping cart.
These easy apple desserts with simple ingredients lean on brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, oats, bread, and a few everyday baking staples, while letting juicy apples do most of the heavy lifting!
Easy Apple Desserts with Simple Ingredients
For baked apple desserts, I usually reach for Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Braeburn, or a combination of two varieties.
Using one tart apple with one sweeter apple gives dessert a fuller flavor without forcing you to pile in extra sugar.
1. Easy Brown Sugar Cinnamon Apple Crisp
If I had five apples and had to choose one dessert without thinking very hard, this would probably be it!
Apples bake down into a glossy cinnamon filling while oats, flour, brown sugar, and butter turn into a craggy golden topping with crisp edges and softer buttery crumbs underneath.
One thing I strongly recommend is slicing apples fairly evenly. You do not need ruler-level precision, but if half your slices are paper-thin and others resemble doorstops, you will end up with applesauce sitting beside crunchy apple chunks. About 1/4 inch thick is just right.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
For Apple Filling
- 5 medium apples, about 5 cups sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For Crisp Topping
- 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
How to Make It
Heat your oven to 375°F and lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish. Peel apples if you prefer a softer filling, or leave skins on if you enjoy a little texture, then slice each apple about 1/4 inch thick.
Toss slices with lemon juice first, followed by brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and salt. Keep tossing until you cannot see dry pockets of flour. Apples should look lightly glossy rather than buried under sugar.
Transfer apple mixture into baking dish and spread slices into a reasonably even layer. Do not press them down too firmly because some space between pieces helps heat move through filling.
Add oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt to a separate bowl. Pour melted butter over everything and stir with a fork until you have moist clumps ranging from tiny crumbs to pieces about size of a pea. Do not keep stirring until mixture becomes perfectly uniform!
Those slightly larger buttery pieces are exactly what create those lovely crisp, craggy areas after baking.
Scatter topping over apples without packing it down. Bake uncovered for 38 to 45 minutes.
Start checking around 35-minute mark. You are looking for vigorous little bubbles appearing around edges of baking dish and a topping that has gone from pale beige to a warm golden brown.
Slip a thin knife into center and test an apple slice. It should offer just a little resistance before knife slides through.
Let crisp rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. I know that sounds like unnecessary discipline when your kitchen smells like cinnamon and butter, but hot apple juices need those few minutes to thicken.
Scoop immediately and you may end up serving apple soup with crumbs, which is still delicious but not quite our mission!
Serving Suggestions
Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream, especially while crisp is still warm enough to soften ice cream around edges without completely melting it.
A spoonful of lightly whipped cream is wonderful if you want something less sweet. For breakfast leftovers, and yes, I absolutely support apple crisp for breakfast, add a scoop to plain Greek yogurt and call it excellent planning.
2. Easy Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers
These little apple turnovers give you flaky pastry, warm cinnamon apples, and crisp golden corners without asking you to make pastry from scratch. Store-bought puff pastry is doing us a favor here, and I see no reason to argue with it!
Inside, apples are cooked briefly before filling pastry. Do not skip this step! Raw apples release quite a bit of moisture and may stay too firm before pastry finishes baking.
Cooking them for a few minutes gives you tender fruit and a thicker filling that is much less interested in escaping onto your sheet pan.
Servings: 8 turnovers
Ingredients
- 1 package frozen puff pastry, 17.3 ounces, containing 2 sheets, thawed
- 2 medium apples, peeled and cut into small 1/4-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
How to Make It
Heat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Keep puff pastry chilled while you prepare filling.
Puff pastry loves being cold when it enters a hot oven, since cold butter layers create steam and help pastry rise into those flaky layers everyone immediately starts pulling apart with their fingers.
Place diced apples, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until apples begin softening but still hold their shape. You should smell cinnamon blooming in melted butter and see a thin brown-sugar syrup collecting around fruit.
Mix cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water in a small cup until smooth, then pour it over apples.
Stir for another 30 to 60 seconds. Filling should quickly become glossy and thick enough that a spoon dragged across pan leaves a clear trail for a second or two.
Transfer filling to a plate and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Warm filling placed on puff pastry starts melting pastry fat before baking, and that can rob you of flaky layers, so give apples a chance to settle down!
Unfold thawed pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface and cut each sheet into four equal squares, giving you eight squares total. Spoon about 1/4 cup filling slightly off-center on each piece, leaving roughly 1/2 inch around edges.
Whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water, then lightly brush pastry edges. Fold one corner over filling to opposite corner, making a triangle, and press edges together with your fingers. Seal again with a fork.
If filling tries escaping while you close pastry, remove a spoonful rather than forcing it in. Overfilling turnovers is a very effective way to feed your baking sheet instead of your family!
Move turnovers to prepared sheet pan, brush tops lightly with egg wash, then cut one or two tiny slits in each top so steam can escape.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until pastries are noticeably puffed and rich golden brown, including around bottom edges. Pale pastry usually means it needs another few minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes before serving because fruit filling stays much hotter than pastry appears from outside.
Serving Suggestions
Dust warm turnovers with powdered sugar or drizzle them with a quick glaze made from powdered sugar and a tiny splash of milk.
For dessert, serve one turnover beside vanilla or butter pecan ice cream. For an afternoon treat, pair one with hot coffee and enjoy how those flaky crumbs immediately migrate onto your shirt. Puff pastry likes to leave evidence!
3. Brown Sugar Cinnamon Baked Apples
Baked apples are what I make when I want apple dessert to taste unmistakably like apples.
Each fruit becomes tender enough to scoop with a spoon while keeping just enough structure to hold a buttery oat and brown sugar center.
They also look far more impressive on a plate than amount of work involved would suggest, which is always a useful kitchen trick to keep around!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 medium baking apples
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup hot water
How to Make It
Heat oven to 375°F and choose a baking dish that holds four apples fairly snugly. If dish is enormous, water around apples evaporates too quickly; if apples are jammed tightly together, they cook unevenly. An 8-inch square baking dish usually works nicely.
Wash apples and slice about 1/2 inch from top of each one. Using a small spoon or melon baller, remove core and seeds while keeping bottom roughly 1/2 inch intact.
Take your time near bottom. If you accidentally carve straight through, buttery brown sugar filling will make a dramatic exit underneath apple!
Stir oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and softened butter together until mixture feels moist and crumbly. Divide filling between apples and gently press it inside each center without compacting it into a hard plug.
Set apples upright in baking dish and pour hot water around them, not directly over filling.
Water creates gentle steam as fruit bakes and keeps sugary juices at bottom from scorching.
Bake uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes. Timing varies quite a bit depending on apple variety and size, so start checking at 30 minutes.
Insert tip of a thin knife into thickest part of one apple. It should slide in easily but fruit should still stand upright rather than collapsing into dish.
You will also notice skins becoming slightly wrinkled and juices bubbling around apples.
Spoon a little liquid from bottom of dish over fruit during final 10 minutes if tops look dry.
Let baked apples rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Spoon some cinnamon-scented juices from baking dish over each one because leaving those behind would be a serious waste of good butter and apple flavor!
Serving Suggestions
Add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream right into warm center for a simple plated dessert.
You can also spoon plain or vanilla Greek yogurt over top and finish with toasted pecans or walnuts.
For a slightly richer finish, drizzle apples with warm caramel sauce just before serving.
4. Easy Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding
If a loaf of bread has reached that awkward stage where nobody wants a sandwich from it but throwing it away feels wrong, this apple bread pudding is exactly where it should go!
Bread soaks up cinnamon custard while apple pieces soften between cubes, giving you crisp browned corners on top and tender, almost creamy layers underneath.
Slightly stale bread actually works better than fresh bread here because it absorbs custard instead of immediately turning to mush.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 6 cups day-old bread cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 medium apples, peeled or unpeeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
How to Make It
Heat oven to 350°F and lightly butter an 8-inch square or similar 2-quart baking dish.
Spread bread cubes in baking dish and scatter diced apples throughout, using your hands to tuck some pieces farther down between bread. Do not leave every apple sitting on top because those pieces can dry out while fruit nestled inside stays juicy.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs until yolks and whites are completely combined, then whisk in milk, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter. Keep whisking until brown sugar is mostly dissolved.
Pour custard slowly over bread, moving around dish rather than dumping everything into one corner. Press bread down gently with a spatula or clean hands so top pieces get a chance to soak.
Now leave it alone for 15 minutes. This little pause matters! Bread needs enough time to absorb custard all way through. Every five minutes or so, press any stubborn dry pieces back into liquid.
Bake uncovered for 42 to 50 minutes. Around 35-minute mark, start watching color. Top should become golden with slightly crisp corners while center should look set rather than wet and jiggly.
Push a knife gently into center. You should see moist custard-soaked bread but no pool of raw liquid. If you use an instant-read thermometer, center should reach at least 160°F.
Allow bread pudding to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting. Fresh from oven, custard is soft and portions fall apart easily. Give it those few minutes and you will get much cleaner spoonfuls while keeping everything warm.
Serving Suggestions
Serve warm with a drizzle of maple syrup or caramel sauce.
For a proper dessert plate, add lightly whipped cream and a small sprinkle of cinnamon.
Cold leftovers are also very good straight from refrigerator, but reheating a square for about 20 to 30 seconds in microwave brings soft custardy texture right back.
5. 15-Minute Skillet Cinnamon Apples
This is your emergency apple dessert for nights when you want something warm and sweet but have absolutely no interest in waiting 45 minutes for an oven timer!
Apple slices cook in butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar until edges begin to caramelize and fruit turns tender without falling apart. What you end up with is essentially apple pie filling without crust, and that opens up all sorts of delicious possibilities.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 medium apples
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
How to Make It
Core apples and slice them about 1/4 inch thick. Try to keep slices close to same thickness so they soften together. You can peel apples, but for this recipe I often leave skin on because cooking time is short and a little texture works nicely.
Melt butter in a 10 to 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Once butter begins foaming, add apple slices and spread them out as evenly as your skillet allows.
Cook apples for about 3 minutes, stirring once or twice. You are giving fruit a head start before adding sugar. If brown sugar goes in immediately, it can begin caramelizing before thicker apple slices have softened.
Sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt over apples, then add lemon juice and water. Stir gently until every slice looks glossy.
Continue cooking for 6 to 9 minutes, stirring occasionally and reducing heat slightly if sugar begins darkening too quickly. Apples are ready when a fork slips in with only mild resistance and slices bend without instantly breaking apart.
Watch sauce during final minute. It should look shiny and lightly syrupy rather than watery.
If you still have a lot of liquid, cook another minute uncovered. If skillet becomes dry before apples soften, add a tablespoon of water rather than extra butter.
Remove skillet from heat while apples are still holding their shape. Residual heat keeps cooking them for another minute or two, and this is one of those small kitchen decisions that separates tender cinnamon apples from accidental applesauce!
Serving Suggestions
Spoon hot apples over vanilla ice cream and let cinnamon-brown sugar sauce run down sides.
They are equally good over pound cake, pancakes, waffles, cheesecake, or French toast.
For a very simple dessert, divide apples between bowls, add whipped cream, and sprinkle crushed graham crackers or toasted walnuts over top.
You can even tuck leftovers into refrigerated pie crust or puff pastry next day and congratulate yourself for accidentally preparing tomorrow’s dessert, too!
These easy apple desserts with simple ingredients prove you do not need complicated pastry techniques or a cart full of specialty ingredients to make apples taste spectacular. Grab those apples before somebody eats one plain!
Hungry for more feel-good meals? Explore these 21 Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Recipes for a nourishing start and 10 Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Recipes for delicious evenings that make healthy eating easy!
