Homey Grain-Free Apple Pie

This is where most of this year’s hand picked apples ended up: drenched in sweet cinnamon and wrapped in almond flour pastry dough. Baked into a pie, and yes...served with ice cream. Dreamy.

I love the way this pie turned out in the end: rustic, they way many of my favorite recipes are, and not too sweet. But I gotta tell you, I was stressing about it from first apple slice until the the first bites were taken. Not real stress, just the kind of stress you get when you're baking something. 

I used to bake more than I cooked (bread for dinner!) but in the last several years that has reversed (for better), and I cook about ten times more than I bake. Between my infrequent baking and baking with alternative flours, I some times feel like I've lost my baking touch. Years ago I could've baked without using measuring cups, and been right on (I know, this is not technically correct, but I just did it enough that I knew how much was how much). These days, I find I have to try a little hard to get things right. 

But my co-worker and friend, Chrissy, is an amazing pie-baker, and her pretty pies inspired me to up my game with this one. I decided I wouldn't settle for excuses, like "almond flour is hard to work with" and instead strive for "this pie is a piece of art". I bought a new aspen leaf cookie cutter, and went to work. And, I was pretty happy about how my paleo apple pie looked before it went into the oven! A spiral of fall leaves, which was just my mood in the moment. 

Twenty minutes into baking, I realized that my crappy electric oven was heating the pie from the top first, so I rushed to the rescue with foil. I texted Chrissy in a panic, but she encouraged me, saying, I like burnt crust, and I crossed my fingers that the foil would save any more burning: I'd settle for dark golden and rustic. 

The leaf spiral barely resembled leaves when it came out of the oven, but the pie was still grand looking, so came the real test: serving up slices to our guests and taking the first bite. 

Phew! 🙌 I still know how to bake somethings. (To be fair, there are all sorts of baked goods on this blog-- just none of them as prestigious as the good old apple pie).

Homey Grain-Free Apple Pie

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Just a good old classic apple pie, made grain-free.

Serves: 12   |    Total Time: 45 active minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 batches almond flour pie crust (double the recipe so your have enough for the top-crust), shaped into two balls of dough and refrigerated
• 8 cups cored, peeled & sliced apples
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup cassava flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, sliced into thin pats

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a medium bowl, toss apples in coconut sugar, cassava flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice.
3. Shape your crust: remove one ball of dough from fridge, and roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. Place back in fridge on flat surface for a moment to make it easier to remove the parchment paper. Remove from fridge after 2-3 minutes and carefully peel back to layer of parchment. Dough should now only have parchment on one side. Place the crust over your pie pan, parchment side up. Now, carefully, peel back top layer of parchment and fit crust to pan. If you get a tear hear and there, just patch it together using your fingers to press the dough together (no one will notice!).
4. Trim edges of crust, and fill with apple mixture. Add pats of butter/coconut oil over apple mixture.
5. To make top crust, repeat the same rolling process as you did with the lower crust: parchment, roll, briefly refrigerate. Then, remove top piece of parchment and cut dough as desired (strips for a lattice, or use a cookie cutter like I did). Transfer pieces carefully to top of pie to finish.
6. Place in oven and bake for 50 minutes. Watch carefully, and wrap crust in foil if it browns too quickly (My oven seems to be overly hot on top, so I do this after about 10 minutes). Allow pie to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Baklava Stuffed Pears

When my dad hosted parties, he had a rule that no one else was allowed in the kitchen. Someone would try and he was tisk them: Uh-uh! and shoo them away. Dinner was his work of art; doing it all was his version of hospitality. No one would chop a vegetable other than he and occasionally, his assistant— me. 

Every night was a different theme: sushi, Ethiopian, Mexican. Middle Eastern night fell short of none. Layers of phyllo dough were painted with butter, and toasted nuts were piled in-between, and small squares of baklava were drizzled with citrus infused honey. 

To me, new roots, are a redefinition of your childhood traditions, in a new light. These baklava stuffed pears are exactly that. Reminiscent of those baklava squares, baked into a fresh new vehicle. Lighter, fruitier... a fusion of new and old. 

The mix of pears with spices, honey, and nuts taste like an quintessential fall dish, one that you can dress up or down depending on what you’re craving: plain, with yogurt or oatmeal, or alongside a scoop of ice cream drizzled with chocolate. 

Baklava Stuffed Pears

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Baklava gets a twist when baked right into ripe pears!

Serves: 10   |    Total Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 5 pears
• 1/2 cup nuts (mix of walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/16 teaspoon cloves
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tablespoons honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash the pears, and half each one. Use a pairing knife to remove the seeds & pithy centers. Place the pears flesh-side-up in a baking dish.
2. In a food processor, pulse the nuts, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and cloves until nuts are roughly chopped. Use a spoon to scoop the nut mixture into the cavity of the pears, creating mounds of nuts on each one.
3. Then, heat the lemon juice, butter, and honey in a small sauce pan until they simmer. Remove from heat. Use a brush to spread the butter mixture over each pear.
4. Place pan in oven and bake until pears are cooked through, about 25 minutes. Serve warm or cold, plain, with ice cream, or over yogurt or oatmeal.

Citrus & Honey Braised Rhubarb (Paleo)

It has been a cold and grey spring, delivered with a dosed of rain and sleet and snow. This weather makes time for all sorts of time consuming activities. Board games. Turning the oven on for extended period of time. Brushing up on your old sketching habit. Curling up on the couch and watching the entire first season of Outlander. 

The grey chill has made me hungry for sun and time outside, even though I admit that sometimes it's nice to have an excuse to curl up on the couch and stay in. 

On sunny days, I lap up the heat and the rays almost as eagerly as I lapped up this rhubarb compote. This compote though, doesn't care how many clouds there are in the sky: its flavors are bright and light. It's blooming with flavor in a way that's akin to the flowers blooming outside.

This, my friends, is the spring dessert. Spoon it over vanilla ice cream while it's still warm. Pile it over yogurt the next morning. Top it with toasted almonds and eat it straight. Swirl it into tapioca pudding (recipe coming soon!). You really can't go wrong.  

Citrus & Honey Braised Rhubarb

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free,    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Orange juice brightens the flavor of the rhubarb in this dish. Honey is used to bring sweetness, which is needed to counteract how tart rhubarb juice is naturally.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound rhubarb (about 3 large stalks)
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Chop the rhubarb into 1 to 2 inch pieces.
3. In a glass baking dish, toss the rhubarb in the honey, orange juice, salt, vanilla, and ginger until everything is well coated and combined. Then spread into an even layer.
4. Place in preheated oven and bake 18-20 minutes, until rhubarb is quite softened. Remove from oven, and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve in small bowls, or with vanilla ice cream, yogurt, or pudding.