Quick Apple Crisp

My husband's favorite desserts are fruit based, and his favorite fruit in a dessert is apple. So, when I asked him what dessert he would like me to make for his birthday, he requested "Quick Apple Crisp" (page 472). The recipe consists of sliced apples sweetened with maple syrup, topped with a crumbly mixture of flour, oats, walnuts, brown sugar, and margarine, then baked in the oven until the apples are done and the topping is crisp. The biggest challenge was how to omit the ½ cup of margarine. In my experience, if you want that "crisp" in a dessert, it requires a fat of some kind. However, I was willing to sacrifice the crisp in order to keep the dish lower in fat, so I used a concoction of 2 tablespoons cashew butter mixed with ¼ cup applesauce to replace the margarine. This mixture provided the necessary moisture to the topping, as well as flavor, and reduced the fat from 70 grams from the margarine to just 16 from the cashew butter. My husband loved his birthday dessert!