Homey Grain-Free Apple Pie

Remember those apples I said I picked? This is where most of them 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.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie (Grain-Free)

I'll be about 30 more minutes, my friend said. I looked at the clock, and then to the pile of ingredients I had set out. I can test two versions of chocolate chip cookies in 30 minutes, right? What else am I going to do? 

Spoiler alert: testing two batches of chocolate chip cookies takes more than 30 minutes. 

An hour later, I was pulling the pan out of the oven, sampling one of each version with a spoon and blowing on them because they had yet to cool. Originally, I had thought, I'll make both versions and then ask people their favorite. But even in that rushed instant of taste testing, the choice was clear. There was a winner, and there was no question about it. 

In the interest of "testing", I made the winning batch again, to make sure I hadn't mixed anything up in my original "30-minute" test bake. I tried it with egg as the binder and gelatin. The egg version spread a bit more, and was slightly more chewy. That said, the gelatin version was pretty dang good too, so below you'll find the recipe lets you pick which binder you'd rather use. Yup, these are a winner! 

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (Grain-Free)

Published July 16, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

A classic chocolate chip cookie, using almond flour!

Serves: 12   |    Total Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon blanched almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a mix of chocolate chips and a chopped dark chocolate bar)

Directions:

1. Before you begin, brown your butter by heating over low heat, stir occasionally, until it turns golden brown (but not burnt!). Then, place butter in the fridge to chill/solidify.
2. Preheat over to 350°F. Creamy chilled butter with coconut sugar and maple syrup. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, sift together your dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt. Add dry mixture to butter mixture 1/2 at a time, beating until incorporated. Then, fold in chocolate chips.
4. Scoop dough by the rounded tablespoon (or 2 flat tablespoons worth of dough) and roll into a ball. Lightly flatten dough balls with your palms to 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Bake for 11-14 minutes, until cookies are fragrant and puffed. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before moving them; they need to set (you are welcome to eat them with a spoon before then, just don’t burn yourself!). Store in air-tight container.

Anthony's Goods provided me with the product for this recipe.