Grain-free Gluten-free Apple Crisp

More and more I’m trying to get onto the grain-free train.  Why?  None of us here are allergic to grains or need to be gluten-free, but as I read more about grains, and wheat in general, the more I want to incorporate less and less into my family’s diet.  (You’ve probably read about this in recent posts here at the blog.)  Even though I personally eat less grains than ever (with a long way to go!), we are like most of you in that a good part of our family meals still include grains.  We have to start somewhere, though, right?  And these days there’s an amazing amount of support out there to do just that.  (Have you seen Cara’s grain-free meal plans?  And here’s my post with loads of grain-free/low-carb ideas.)

So as the experimenting continues, I’ll post the recipes that I’m able to pull off, and recently I made a delicious grain-free apple crisp.  Now this was really good, but I have to be honest, I do still like the ‘regular’ apple crisp better.  It’s lighter and crispier.  (In case you’re one who doesn’t mind including flour in your recipes, I’ll add the variation below plus another one I haven’t tried yet.)  But the kids all loved this and don’t know any different, so that’s a hit in my book!

Grain-free Apple Crisp

Toss together:

• 8 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced, preferably organic as apples are #1 on the dirty dozen list!
• Juice from 1/2 lemon (drizzle over the top to keep apples from turning brown as you’re cutting them all up)
• 1 T. arrowroot flour
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1/3 c. maple syrup (click for where to buy)

Spoon into a buttered 9×13 baking dish, bake 35 minutes at 350*.  This part can be done ahead and then you can add the next ingredients later for the final bake so you can wow everyone with your warm apple crisp whenever you’re ready to serve it!

Mix together the following ingredients for the crumb topping:

• 1 c. almond flour
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. crispy pecans (click for where to buy)
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. sea salt
• 1/2 c. palm or coconut sugar (click the link for where to buy)
• 1/2 c. cold butter, cut into small-ish pieces

Crumble on top of the apples and bake at 350* for another 30 minutes or until a little crispy.

Get even more ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ if you serve this with:

• Real whipped cream  or…
• Homemade vanilla ice cream
• More dessert ideas (including quite a few that are grain-free!)

The ‘old’ apple crisp recipe I used:

• Peel & chop about 8 apples into a bowl
• Toss with 1/4 c. palm or coconut sugar (or maple sugar) & 1T. cinnamon
• Spoon into buttered 9×13 glass baking dish
• Bake 30 minutes
• In the meantime, mix together: 1/2 t. salt, 1 T. cinnamon, 1/2 c. palm or maple sugar, 1/4 c. chopped crispy nuts, 8 T. melted butter, 1 c. flour (I always used part sprouted whole wheat and part unbleached white).
• Sprinkle onto top of the apples.
• Now either cover and wait to finish baking ‘til just before you serve it, or bake another 20-30 minutes until apples are soft and the top is crispy.

One more for Fruit Crisp:

Here’s another apple crisp/fruit crisp recipe someone gave me after I raved about it at a graduation open house.  I’ll show you her original recipe and then tell you the way I would adapt it if I made it, which I haven’t…

• Butter a cookie sheet and spread around the following:
  • 1 can cherry pie filling (instead use 1 batch of homemade cherry pie filling to avoid the high fructose corn syrup)
  • 1 small can crushed pineapple undrained (use the kind in its own juice)
• Sprinkle a white cake mix all over the top (Try an organic white cake mix to avoid the trans fats, or come up with your own dried mix)
• Drizzle 1 1/2 sticks of melted oleo over the top (No! Don’t do it!  Use real butter!)
• Bake at 350* for 50 minutes or so, until bubbly