Sugar, Dairy, Wheat FREE (!!!!) Apple Pie AND It's Delicious!

As some of you might know I'm doing a diet that has some pretty strict eating rules. I can eat ONLY the following: fruits of any kind (except oranges), vegetables of any kind, meat of any kind (except pork), potatoes, brown rice and eggs. For beverages I'm allowed water, black coffee and black tea. That's it. It's really a lot of food and gives me tons of options, but I can't have anything processed or frozen or with any additives, etc.

Lately I've had a craving for a good dessert, but since I can't have sugar I wasn't sure how I was going to get that craving satisfied. Yesterday I started thinking... sweet potatoes are almost sweet enough on their own that they taste like candy, and so are fresh dates. What if I pureed them in a food processor, mixed them together and used them as a sweetener in an apple pie? I bought all the ingredients yesterday and this afternoon I made the pie. Josh and I just finished a whole HALF of the pie between the two of us! That's how delicious it is! I'm so excited! I love the fact that I now have a dessert option that is tasty, healthy and diet friendly, but, even more, I'm loving that I came up with an original recipe that is totally delicious!

It is important to know that I made the pie with rice flour because I'm not allowed wheat and it is dairy free as well. Keep in mind that I'm only allowed three types of oil; olive, coconut, almond. However, since my baby is allergic to nuts, any nut oils that I eat bother him when he breastfeeds, this makes the almond oil off limits for me. Here is the recipe.

Crust (I made with rice flour and coconut oil, but you can use regular flour and shortening if you don't have sensitivities to them.)

1 1/4 Cups Brown Rice Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Coconut Oil
4-5 Tablespoons Cold Water

In a medium bowl stir together the flour and salt. Cut in the coconut oil until the mixture is in crumbs the size of peas. Add the water ONE tablespoon at a time to sections of the flour mixture. Gently toss the flour and water with a fork and then push to the side of the bowl. Repeat this until the flour is all moistened. Form into a ball. (Normally this would be where you would roll the dough and put it into a pie pan, but rice flour doesn't make for a very pliable dough.) Press the dough into a pie pan and form it to reach up the sides and cover the bottom. Using a fork, poke the bottom and sides to provide room for steam to vent.


Apple Filling

6 Cups Apples (you can leave the skin on or peal them. I left my skins on.)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Clove
1 Sweet Potato, Baked
5 Fresh Dates, Pitted

Pour the lemon juice over the apples and let sit while you prepare the remaining ingredients. In a large bowl stir together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Add the apples to the spiced flour mixture and toss until well coated. Dig the sweet potato "meat" out of the skin and mash, set aside. Using a food processor turn the dates into a paste by adding a small amount of water. (Approximately 1/4 cup.) Stir the dates and the mashed sweet potato together and then mix into the apple mixture. Pour into the pie pan with the prepared shell.


Crumb Topping (Again, you can use regular flour instead of rice flour if you would prefer.)

4 Fresh Dates, Pitted
3 Tablespoons Rice Flour (Appx.)

Process the dates in a food processor, dry, without water, until they are a thick paste, but not watery. Add the flour and process until dry, pea sized crumbs form. Spread over top of the pie.


Bake the entire pie in a 375 oven for approximately 1 hour. (May take a little less or more time.) You will know it is done when the topping has thickened and is bubbly. After about 20 minutes you may need to cover the top of the pie with foil to keep the crumb topping from burning.

ENJOY!

This pie underwent the very stringent "Husband Test" and passed with flying colors! Even without sugar it is incredibly delicious!

Please let me know if you try to make it and what you think of it. We love it here in the G House and will probably make it a regular in the recipe rotation!

*Note that the food processor I used is a small three cup machine that only cost about $10 dollars.