Gluten Free Apple Pie and Apple Topped Steel Cut Oats

i actually came up with this recipe before i decided on the theme for this month's Go Ahead Honey, and felt conflicted... because i think apple pie really represents the american "home" and "childhood" aspect... however, it wasn't really my home, so i'm not going to have this as my submission :) i'm still trying to come up with something though.

anyways, we received a huge bag of apples from my in-laws who went to west virginia, so i was making apple everything for a while-- some recipes better than others (such as my undercooked apple cake which you shall not see here.) one of my favorite quick and easy apple recipes was a topping for my steel cut oats in the morning. i just put sliced apples with some cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and a dash of agave in a pan and simmered for a few minutes. i added some pecans sometimes as well. anyways, after cooking my oats i just topped it with the apple mix and it was fantastic.

moving on to better recipes, here is my apple pie one... i tried improving my crust from my Strawberry Rhubarb Pie by taking out the butter and subbing it with grapeseed oil instead. i leave that option open-- one stick of butter will work, grapeseed oil, or organic spectrum shortening. coconut oil will work as well, and i think would go well with apple (i used it in my blueberry pie) but you have to be open to a bit of a coconut flavor. if you do want to do the coconut but not have it overwhelm, i would recommend half coc. oil with half of something else (butter, oil, etc.). anyways, mine came out a bit oily to work with but perfect baked at 3/4 a cup, so i'm going to recommend 1/2-3/4 a cup and you can check your consistency because different gluten free flours work in different ways, and you can always add more sweet rice flour to firm it up. now on to the pie.




Apple Pie

(gluten free, dairy free, soy free, refined sugar free)


Crust:

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
5 Tbsp sweet rice flour (approximately 1/4 cup)
1.5 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1 tsp Saigon cinnamon
3 tsp honey/maple/agave
1 egg
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup cold water
1/2-3/4 cup grapeseed oil (or other mild oil, refrigerated works well)

-mix the flours together with a stand mixer. slowly add the oil in with the mixer running and mix until it is crumbled into pea-sized pieces.

-drop the egg and vinegar into the mixture while the mixer is running. once combined, drizzle the cold water into the mix a little at a time while the mixer is running. once it looks like dough, turn off the mixer.

-separate the dough into two balls and put each on a piece of parchment paper. place another piece on top of each ball and gently smoosh them down into disks. wrap the paper around them and refrigerate over night. remove from the refrigerator 20 minutes before using. if you can't refrigerate over night, a couple of hours will do as well.

Apple Pie Filling:

4 cups chopped or sliced apples (approximately-- i used sliced ones i made with an apple peeler/corer/slicer (Apple Peeler)
1 tsp saigon cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp vanilla or one vanilla bean
3/4 cup honey, maple syrup or agave
1/4 cup starch (tapioca, arrowroot, or corn)

-preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. mix all of the ingredients in a bowl except for the starch. remove some of the liquid from the apple mixture and add it to the starch to 'melt' it down. mix the starch liquid into the apples and let it all sit while you prepare your crusts.

-roll out one pie crust and fit in dish. if it falls apart, simply press together again-- gluten free crust is good like that. pour the apple filling mix in and spread evenly.

-the second crust is trickier if it falls apart. i like to slide it off of the parchment paper by peeling away the paper as you slide it on (sounds confusing, but it's not that bad). if it does fall apart, you can still try to reattach it. if not, there needs to be steam holes/slits, so just let the cracks be the holes in the crust. if it did survive, make a pretty hole in the top or slits in the middle. ** if you want a shiny crust, you can brush the crust with egg white here. i left this one alone but have done it in the past.

(pie before cooking - without steam holes)

-bake the pie in the oven for 20 minutes at 400F, then lower to 350 for another 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. i know it's difficult, but let it cool for a while-- it helps the liquid inside solidify and is worth the wait :)

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