Saturday, February 13, 2010

GAPS Apple Pie

We've been finding that the squashes are getting sort of late-season unpredictable. I finally made another squash pie, but it just wasn't quite as spectacular as past pies. That was when Little Moo made some suggestion about apple pie.

So I thought about it.

It would be great for Little Moo who is right now GF/DF/EF/CF/SF.

I'm off nuts, so, no crust.
I can't have honey, sugar or syrup, so that's not an option, either. Of course, I'm always one for the low glycemic option.

The doctor suggested that I eat cinnamon, so that's a go. No cloves or allspice, though.

I cut up a bunch of apples and pears and layered them deeply in a pie pan (that's a buttload of fruit, by the way), sprinkled it generously with cinnamon, then poured over it a small amount of water mixed with lemon juice, vanilla and about 4 drops of stevia.

I stuck the thing in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

It's basically a cross between a baked apple and a pie, or a crisp, or something. Only there's no crust and no crisp.

It's amazing...it actually seemed to form a sweet syrup, even without added sugars.

It's even better cold! I tried it a few days ago with cold coconut milk kefir and it's super that way. It would even be better if the kefir was turned into ice cream. (Can you tell it's warm here now? Heh.)

3 comments:

Zenseer said...

I seem to do better with fruit sweeteners myself. I like date molasses (I find this one in persian grocery stores) and I make boiled cider (which is boiled apple juice until it gets syrupy: 1 quart will give 1 cup of syrup. I'm sure it can work with other fruit juices as well as long as they are pure & natural).
I sometimes also use coconut sugar which has a low GI but it can be really sweet depending on the quantity (I seem to prefer liquid sweeteners anyway...Sometimes a wee drizzle of grade B maple syrup).

Are you familiar with this book: "sweet and sugar free ~ an all natural fruit-sweetened dessert cookbook" by Karen E Barkie? It's not a ccokbook for people used to using sugar for sure but she's got good ideas (like making sweeteners/syrups with dried fruits). Of course you're gonna need to adapt the flours to your gaps/gluten free needs but overall the recipes are pretty simple and naturally fruit based.
Using blended pears and a wee bit of lemon juice to make a pear jam, you can't beat that!

Jennifer said...

Unfortunately, on the GAPS diet, although you can have fruit and fruit sweeteners, it's something that can easily be overdone. I definitely feel it when I eat too much or too often. I've also pretty much given up on flour of any kind recently. I'm on a nut vacation and other than squash, that would be my only option. :( (It also means that I have nothing neutral-tasting to spread stuff on, which is more limiting than it sounds!)

On the other hand, I keep trying to come up with stuff for our daughter that is good for an occasional sweet treat.

The cookbook sounds interesting. Thanks for the title.

Zenseer said...

If you wish to stick to the "sweet" vegetables, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes and maybe parsnips should work as well.
They are slightly starchy but so are squashes & pumpkins.
I personally like the idea of using vegetables and/or legumes in desserts and baked goods (I have 2 vegetable desserts cookbooks...1 of them has a sauerkraut chocolate cake recipe but I don't think I would like to try this one).
I've been craving less and less sweets and baked goods. I've very happy with yogurt, berries/fruits and/or nuts/seeds.
As far as the fruit sweeteners go, I have a simple rule: I use 1/8 to 1/4 cup sweetener per cup of flour...No more. So the baked goods usually come out barely sweet if you can taste any sweetness at all.