Baked Apples (Grain/Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Soy Free, Paleo)

Other than the obvious pumpkin everything, nothing says fall to me like apples. Amazingly enough I didn't have my first baked apple until about a year ago so was pretty excited to recreate one at home based on our own tastes and needs...

This is really a recipe you can play around with, and I made two variations- with and without the pecans or using slivered almonds instead of whole. One time I made it I created a lot of extra filling and saved it as well so that I would have have it prepared for the next time I wanted them. I've eaten these for breakfast or dessert- a fantastic, healthy treat for whenever!

Baked Apples
(paleo, grain free, gluten free, soy free, egg free, dairy free, refined sugar free, vegan) 

Coring Apples
There are a few techniques for coring apples. If you have a corer like this one or this one
you can do it pretty simply, but I ended up just using a knife and once I figured out a good technique wasn't a big deal. I inserted my knife and carved a circle in each apple, making sure not to go all the way through. Then, i re-inserted the knife at a diagonal around the circle to remove the core. I then used a spoon to finish removing the core.





 

Filling

1.5 cups of pistachios, almonds, and pecans (or your favorite nut/seed blend)
6 dates, chopped
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until reaches your desired consistency. Sometimes I like it more chunky (like in the pictures), other times a finer sticky filling. Fill each apple with filling in a pyrex. If you like it a little sweeter, drizzle a little more maple over the tops.


Bake for 30 minutes at 375*F

Makes around 6 medium apples

 

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No Bake Apple Crumble Bars (Gluten free, Egg free, Dairy free, Grain free)

And just like that- Fall is here!  As much as I love the warm/hot weather, what I love most about the fall is the food that comes with it.  One of my favorites for baking is fresh, crisp apples.  I made this yesterday morning for breakfast in a hurry and loved the results!  It's super simple to make and great for breakfast or a dessert.

I've been staying away from grains recently (in addition to my usual plus eggs now as well) so I've been playing with a lot more coconut and nut flours.  The coconut/almond flour combo is so creamy and delicious and is a natural sweetener in itself, so I barely used any in the actual recipe. I used blanched almond flour from Honeyville, but I'm sure it would taste fine with regular almond meal as well- just a different texture. 

Feel free to double it and use an 8" pyrex- I used an 8.5"x5" glass loaf pan. I didn't bake mine, but if you do, let me know how it comes out!

No Bake Apple Crumble Bars
(paleo, gluten, soy, dairy, egg, grain free)

Apple Filling

3 organic apples (I used granny smith- a tarter flavor)
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp water (add more if you like it more gooey)
1/2 tsp saigon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Crust/Topping
1 cup Blanched Almond Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour

3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp Alcohol-Free Vanilla
1/8 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
Slice and peel apples- I used my apple slicer and then cut them one more time in half and peeled them.  (Next time i might use my handy apple corer/peeler/slicer :))

Place them in a pan with the rest of the filling ingredients and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally and cook until fork tender. If you want a more gooey or sweet apple, you can add more maple syrup (or honey) or water.

While your apples are cooking, put your almond and coconut flour and salt together in a small bowl and stir with a fork, breaking up any clumps. Add the oil, honey, and vanilla and stir well.

Press a little over half of the mix into your pyrex and top with the apples. Take the rest of the topping and sprinkle it evenly on top of the apples and press lightly. 

Place in the refrigerator and chill until firm.  If you cut it immediately it will still taste great, but it will fall apart when you try to cut it and tastes a bit different warm than cold. Both are great though!

When chilled, cut into bars and enjoy with a nice warm cup of tea!
(makes 6 bars)

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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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Apple Pancakes

i began making apple pancakes when i switched from white flour to whole wheat and decided that it was time to stop eating dairy, as i've been lactose intolerant since i was six. anyways, i bought the Vegan Handbook which is a fairly good cookbook at a booksale, and have made a good number of their recipes (and changed them around to my liking ;))

i've played with the recipe a lot since i first started making them, so here is my final (for now) gluten free version, but even that can be changed around a lot and i give alternatives. today was my first time using a GF blend to make them and i was really happy with the way they turned out, but feel free to leave any suggestions for other flour combos or additions!




APPLE PANCAKES

(makes 10 pancakes)


1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour **
1/2 Cup Sorghum Flour
1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
1/2 tsp Xantham Gum
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
2 TBSP Organic Apple Sauce ***
3/4 Cup unsweetened almond milk (or soy milk or milk of your choice)
1 tsp Vanilla
2 green apples, cored and grated****


Mix the first eight ingredients together (dry ones).

Mix the Apple Sauce or juice of your choice (see note below) with the milk and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry, then add the grated apples and stir gently until well blended.

Heat skillet/pan with oil of your choice (i've used earth balance, olive oil, or butter here)

For each pancake use about 3 TBSP of batter and flatten out some in pan.

Cook about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

To keep pancakes warm until serving, place on a platter covered with foil in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.

I usually eat these as is, but my husband likes them covered with maple syrup. They're also good with apple butter or apple sauce.

Enjoy!

** If you are non-GF, just take out the first 4 ingredients and use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

*** I used unsweetened organic apple sauce today because i didn't have any juice, but the original recipe calls for 2 TBSP apple juice concentrate, thawed. I have never actually used that, but instead, have used about 1/3 cup mango juice, guava juice, or papaya juice (brazilian gourmet).

****prepare the apples to your liking-- i have grated them or chopped them finely or a combo of both

***** If you like them sweeter, you can add a TBSP or 2 of agave nectar or maple syrup in the batter

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