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.

Curried Cauliflower Salad with Apple & Fennel

I first discovered this combo at a networking event, at which I spent more time taste-testing all of the appetizers than talking to people. If you know me, you’re probably thinking, “typical.”

That night, after having just a nibble of a salad with cauliflower roasted with curry powder, apple, and fennel, I went home and made my own version of the same thing — one bite was not enough! Since then, I’ve made the recipe several times, tweaking it as I go. Here’s where I ultimately landed: a roasted cauliflower salad with dice apple and thin slices of fennel, tossed with arugula and drizzled with an apple cider vinegar, curry and honey vinaigrette.

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables to roast. I’m guilty of popping several of the roasted florets into my mouth right as the pan comes out of the oven, still piping hot. It’s super versatile, making it a very good base for this salad, which once dressed is FULL of flavor.

Fennel pairs well with curry vinaigrette because fennel seed is often featured in curry. Fennel bulb is brighter and fresher than fennel seed, and provides a satisfying crunch. Meanwhile, apple is sweet and tangy, a contrast to bitter arugula.

It’s not in the recipe, but occasionally I’ll add a handful of toasted walnuts or pepitas to this salad, too. Nuts go a long way in making a salad feel full!

Unlike most salads, I think of this as cold weather fare. Apples and cauliflower are delicious and easy to find well into late fall, and in the summer I’m not as motivated to turn on my oven to roast a pan of veggies. The curry vinaigrette is warming, and the whole salad goes well with roasted chicken or mahi mahi.

Watch the video below, or keep scrolling for the recipe!

Curried Cauliflower Salad with Apple & Fennel

Published September 22, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yield: 6   |    Active Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the salad:

1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 apples, one diced and one sliced for garnish

1 bulb fennel, sliced thin

4 cups fresh baby arugula

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1/4 teaspoons black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Place cauliflower on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Roast in oven for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through and edges are browning. Set aside to cool.
3. Make vinaigrette: combine all ingredients for vinaigrette in a jar and shake to combine.
4. Assemble salad: place arugula in bowl, and top with cauliflower, apple, and fennel. Drizzle with half of vinaigrette and toss to combine. Add more vinaigrette as desired.

Paleo Almond Flour Snickerdoodle Cookies

Snickerdoodle cookies fill your house with the best, homiest, sweetest smell. Especially these snickerdoodles, which are made with cinnamon, coconut sugar, honey and almond flour.

It is snowing here today — giant flakes that drift like feathers on their way down. And lucky me! I have the day off. I’m sticking around the house, and this weather is PERFECT for cookies, which is exactly why I jumped in an made this recipe, which I originally created in 2016, but am revisiting today (January, 2019).

I’m using my go-to combination for cookie dough here: almond flour with a tiny bit of salt and baking soda, and honey and coconut oil. It’s miraculous to me that those five ingredients are all you need (plus a little vanilla) to make a gluten-free, grain-free, better-for-you cookie dough, but it’s true. What’s more, they come out of the oven a little bit chewy and crispy on the outside. Dipped in a glass of milk they are SO tender and melt-away delicious.

I LOVE cinnamon — in snickerdoodle cookies, but also in pie and almond butter and chai and more. Apparently that love does not run in the family, something I learned some time in high school:

It started at my Mom's house. When I found the cinnamon jar empty, I asked her if we had anymore. She mentioned something about being surprised we were out, she didn't like cinnamon at all and would never use it. I'm not sure which put more of a rut in my baking plans: finding out we didn't have cinnamon, or finding out I might need to just skip it all together. After all of these years, how could I not know that my own mother didn't like cinnamon?! I had been putting it in next to everything.

It was only a few days later I was to find out my dad agreed with her. After the missing cinnamon debacle, I tried to make the same exact recipe a week later at my dad's house. You can probably guess what happens next. He was out of cinnamon as well! I asked him the same thing: "Do we have any more?" and he respond in almost an identical way: "That's weird that we're out, I hate cinnamon." My eyes just about popped out of their sockets. Hate cinnamon?

I hadn't realized anyone had a problem with cinnamon until that moment in my mom's kitchen, and now you're telling me both of my parents are holding a grudge against the stuff?! 

For the record, I replenished both cinnamon supplies, kept baking with cinnamon, and they both continued to eat my baked treats happily. I guess their distaste for cinnamon only went so far. 

Watch the video below, or click here if you do not see the video player.

Paleo Almond Flour Snickerdoodle Cookies

Published August 2, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yields: 12   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup honey, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fit a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.
3. Add melted coconut oil, honey, and vanilla and stir to make a stiff dough. Scoop dough by the tablespoonful into your hands, and gently shape into a sphere. Repeat until all of the dough is used.
4. In a small bowl, combine coconut sugar and cinnamon. Stir to incorporate. One at a time, place the cookie dough balls in the sugar mixture, and roll to coat. Place coated cookie dough ball on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1-inch between each cookie. Repeat until all of the cookie dough balls are coated.
5. Using a fork, gently press down on each cookie to flatten it to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
6. Bake for 10-14 minutes, until cookies are puffy, fragrant, and golden. Allow to cool 10 minutes (they will continue to set as they cool).