Full disclosure: this Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free Apple Pie is not health food. Sorry to burst your bubble, but just because a food is gluten- and refined sugar-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Whenever I have a hankering for something sweet I try my best to “upgrade” my choice. I choose foods that are BETTER, not necessarily healthy and that’s what this pie is about. It’s gluten free, uses maple syrup in the place of refined white sugar, and I used organic butter. BUT, it’s still a lot of sugar, and ultimately a lot of empty calories that I’m going to absolutely savor on a few select special occasions each year.
“Why then,” you may ask, “are you making pie if it’s not healthy? You’re a health coach for crying out loud!” Well, my friend, I love eating pie. Just love it. We often have emotional attachment to particular foods from our childhood and pie is certainly one of those foods for me. It reminds me of my mother and holidays with family. Even though pie certainly isn’t healthy, eating it nourishes something in me that isn’t at all food-related.
Not only do I love eating pie, but I also love making pie and this Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free Apple Pie satisfies that need. The ability to create a good flaky crust from scratch isn’t something that everyone can do, but I feel that I was well on my way to mastering the art till my son was diagnosed with a wheat allergy. I still eat wheat on occasion when we go out to eat or eat at a friend’s house, but our household is pretty much gluten free and there are very few foods that I miss being able to eat. The exception? You guessed it. Pie!
Gluten Free Products
I shy away from gluten free flour mixes (and most gluten-free products) because quite frankly, they’re crap. Food marketing strategies have led us to believe that a gluten-free label equates with health food, which is far from the truth. Gluten free products are packed full of fillers and starches that are doing their best to imitate wheat flour when it’s just not an easy thing to do. Thus, I’ve spent the last 3-years making my own buckwheat flour from hulled buckwheat groats that I throw in my Blendtec blender and voila, whole-grain gluten free flour. My homemade buckwheat flour works great for muffins, pancakes, quick breads, as a thickener, and even in a couple of select yeast breasts. But I can’t make pie with it.
I stumbled across Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour – a mix that contains mostly whole grain flours with just a few fillers that aren’t quite as junky as their counterparts. One of the fillers used in this particular gluten free mix is potato starch, an ingredient that I previously shied away from, but recently learned is actually a prebiotic – a precursor to the growth of probiotics within the gut. A prebiotic such as potato starch isn’t digestible by human digestive enzymes and is therefore left as food for gut flora.
I don’t plan to use Bob’s Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour as a replacement for my homemade buckwheat flour, but I’m happy to have a better alternative for times when I need a flour that behaves more like wheat flour. You know, like in the case of gluten free and refined sugar free apple pie!
Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free Apple Pie
I should preface this recipe by also saying that you still need to know how to make regular old, glutenous pie in order to repeat this recipe. You can Youtube pretty much anything these days, so if you’re not sure how to make pie, start there and then use this a guide to know what to do differently. My recommendations for making a successful gluten free pie include:
- More butter makes for a crust that holds together slightly better.
- Parchment paper is about to be your BFF. Seriously, don’t try this recipe without it.
- Dice your apples rather than slice them. The pie seems to be more uniform with diced apples, which helps prevent it from cracking as much.
- Be patient. This is true for all pie-making, but is even more important with this gluten free and refined sugar free apple pie. If you get in a rush, it’ll turn into a big fat mess.
So, that’s it! Are you ready to make some super delicious gluten free and refined sugar free apple pie? Leave me a comment below and let me know how it turned out!
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
- 1 stick + 6 tbsp cold butter, cubed
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- Pinch of salt
- 7-10 tbsp ice water
- 5-6 cups peeled, diced apples (see suggestions above)
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Combine all pie filling ingredients together in large bowl. Stir together till apples are equally coated and set aside.
- Combine flour, butter, maple syrup and salt in a food processor till the butter is in pea-sized pieces (some will be smaller than this, which is fine, just don’t over process).
- Add ice water 1 tbsp at a time while pulsing crust mixture. Add water till the crust will hold together. You can test a small piece by squeezing a tablespoon of crust mixture in your hand to see if it will form a ball that can then be flattened without falling apart. I found that I used more water for this recipe than when using wheat flour.
- Form the dough into a tight ball and divide in half using a sharp knife. Roll each half into a ball and set one ball aside.
- Dust a large sheet of parchment paper with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and flattened the ball of dough on top of the paper. Press it into a thin, round patty. Generously dust the top with more flour, cover with another large sheet of parchment paper and roll out the dough flat using a rolling pin. Repair cracks as needed. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper, center the pie pan on your flattened dough to use a size guide and trim crust into a neatly shaped circle that’s large enough to fill the entire pie pan while leaving approximately 1 -2 inches of excess for attaching the top later of crust. (This is where Youtube might come in handy…)
- Very carefully turn the sheet of parchment paper on its side to gently shake off excess flour and flip the dough into the pie pan. Peal off the parchment paper and repair any cracks with excess dough if necessary.
- Pour the filling into the pie pan evenly.
- Repeat steps 4 – 5 with the top layer of crust. Seal top and bottom crusts together, making a decorative edge (again… Youtube it).
- Poke a few holes in the top of the pie (I like to arrange it in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing) and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour – 1 hour, 15 minutes or until crust is slightly golden on top.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!
Leave a Reply