Delicious, Good for You Apple “Cookies”

*Caution, affiliate links ahead…Don’t worry, I’ll use the money for something practical, like wine…. or a pony!

We have really cut back on sugar at our house, I’m trying to encourage better eating habits  in my kids and avoid overly sugary baked goods like cakes, cookies and other traditional “goodies”. In the process I have learned a few things to help fudge the lines between healthy & yummy to get my picky eaters to try something they normally wouldn’t.

One of those foods was apples…. now my kids will eat applesauce and drink apple juice all day long, but slice up an apple for them and they immediately turn up their noses and refuse to eat them. The excuses are plentiful, “they are too crunchy”, “I don’t like the skin”, “what is all that brown stuff?” and on and on and on.  So I decided to come up with something new to get them to eat actual cut up apples. It took a little magic and peanut butter but I got my kids to eat apple slices without a single complaint….in fact they asked for more! Whaaaaaaat??

So today, I celebrate a small victory of getting my kids to eat cut up raw apples. As a mom, I’ll take any victory I can get 🙂

If you have a picky apple eater, here are some great apple “cookie” recipes that the whole family is sure to love.

Apple Trail Mix “Cookie”

Ingredients:

1 small apple

Peanut butter

Granola

Chocolate chips

Directions:

Core the apple and slice horizontally to make apple circles.
Remove excess moisture from apple slices with a paper towel
Spread peanut butter evenly on the apple slice
Top with granola and chocolate chips

 Toasted Coconut Caramel Apple “Cookies”

Ingredients:

1 small apple

Homemade Dulce de Leche

Toasted coconut

Directions:

Core the apple and slice horizontally to make apple circles.
Remove excess moisture from apple slices with a paper towel
Spread caramel evenly on the apple slice
Top with toasted coconut

Chocolate Hazelnut & Pretzel Apple “Cookies”

Ingredients:

1 small apple

Homemade chocolate hazelnut spread

pretzel pieces

Directions:

Core the apple and slice horizontally to make apple circles.
Remove excess moisture from apple slices with a paper towel
Spread hazelnut spread evenly on the apple slice
Top with pretzel pieces

So many choices, all healthy and yummy! You can’t go wrong 🙂 Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!