This is where most of this year’s hand picked apples ended up: drenched in sweet cinnamon and wrapped in almond flour pastry dough. Baked into a pie, and yes...served with ice cream. Dreamy.

I love the way this pie turned out in the end: rustic, they way many of my favorite recipes are, and not too sweet. But I gotta tell you, I was stressing about it from first apple slice until the the first bites were taken. Not real stress, just the kind of stress you get when you're baking something.

I used to bake more than I cooked (bread for dinner!) but in the last several years that has reversed (for better), and I cook about ten times more than I bake. Between my infrequent baking and baking with alternative flours, I some times feel like I've lost my baking touch. Years ago I could've baked without using measuring cups, and been right on (I know, this is not technically correct, but I just did it enough that I knew how much was how much). These days, I find I have to try a little hard to get things right.

But my co-worker and friend, Chrissy, is an amazing pie-baker, and her pretty pies inspired me to up my game with this one. I decided I wouldn't settle for excuses, like "almond flour is hard to work with" and instead strive for "this pie is a piece of art". I bought a new aspen leaf cookie cutter, and went to work. And, I was pretty happy about how my paleo apple pie looked before it went into the oven! A spiral of fall leaves, which was just my mood in the moment.

Twenty minutes into baking, I realized that my crappy electric oven was heating the pie from the top first, so I rushed to the rescue with foil. I texted Chrissy in a panic, but she encouraged me, saying, I like burnt crust, and I crossed my fingers that the foil would save any more burning: I'd settle for dark golden and rustic.

The leaf spiral barely resembled leaves when it came out of the oven, but the pie was still grand looking, so came the real test: serving up slices to our guests and taking the first bite.

Phew! 🙌 I still know how to bake somethings. (To be fair, there are all sorts of baked goods on this blog-- just none of them as prestigious as the good old apple pie).

Homey Grain-Free Apple Pie

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free | Caitlin Sherwood

Just a good old classic apple pie, made grain-free.

Serves: 12 | Total Time: 45 active minutes

Ingredients:

2 batches almond flour pie crust (double the recipe so your have enough for the top-crust), shaped into two balls of dough and refrigerated
8 cups cored, peeled & sliced apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup cassava flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, sliced into thin pats

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a medium bowl, toss apples in coconut sugar, cassava flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice.
Shape your crust: remove one ball of dough from fridge, and roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. Place back in fridge on flat surface for a moment to make it easier to remove the parchment paper. Remove from fridge after 2-3 minutes and carefully peel back to layer of parchment. Dough should now only have parchment on one side. Place the crust over your pie pan, parchment side up. Now, carefully, peel back top layer of parchment and fit crust to pan. If you get a tear hear and there, just patch it together using your fingers to press the dough together (no one will notice!).
Trim edges of crust, and fill with apple mixture. Add pats of butter/coconut oil over apple mixture.
To make top crust, repeat the same rolling process as you did with the lower crust: parchment, roll, briefly refrigerate. Then, remove top piece of parchment and cut dough as desired (strips for a lattice, or use a cookie cutter like I did). Transfer pieces carefully to top of pie to finish.
Place in oven and bake for 50 minutes. Watch carefully, and wrap crust in foil if it browns too quickly (My oven seems to be overly hot on top, so I do this after about 10 minutes). Allow pie to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

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Last week, I shared a recipe for coffee cake that was inspired by my grandmother. This recipe also makes me think of her, because for years I thought it was a family tradition--you know, passed down from my Grandmother, to my father, and finally to me. My Grandmother taught me to make blueberry muffins, and inspired so many other dishes: Every time she had guests over for dinner, she would spend the next day on her typewriter, writing up a thank you letter and a recipe card for the meal she had made.

So it only seemed natural that this recipe, like so many others, was one of hers. Pass down the family line. This was such a nice thought that somehow, it stuck. It stamped out my memories of canned cranberry sauce, jiggly and can-shaped. It made me forget that I used to despise cranberry sauce.

But one day, many years after trying this recipe for the first time, I told my dad that I had made his favorite cranberry sauce--his mom's version. He gave me puzzled look, trying to figure out what "recipe" I may have used, since in reality she had always just used canned cranberries. Quickly the truth became clear: I was confused! My dad had actually found this recipe years ago on his own. When it was passed to me, and described as "our family recipe," well, things got confusing.

It is still a family recipe, in a sense--two generations counts, right? But mostly, it's just the best cranberry sauce I've ever had. It converted me from a cranberry sauce hater (or a cranberry sauce poker — someone that just pokes the slice of canned red stuff with their fork, never taking a bite), into a cranberry sauce fanatic (someone that can’t wait to make cranberry sauce come November).

This, my friends, is what cranberry sauce is all about. Refined sugar has been taken out of the equation, and what's left is a pure, delicious, tangy cranberry and apple relish. Studded with pecans, for a bit of texture, too.

Cranberry sauce isn't just for dinner! It makes a pretty awesome desert, served over ice cream or a slice of pound cake. If you eat dairy, it's delicious on yogurt, cottage cheese, or perfect for making an appetizer platter with baked brie or gruyere. Or, try it on french toast!

TIP: You can make this sauce a week ahead of the big day! Store in the fridge in air-tight containers.

Paleo Cran-Apple Relish

Published December 15, 2014 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 2 cups | Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup diced apple
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional: 1/4 cup chopped, toasted pecans

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, combine the cranberries, chopped apples, water, and honey. Cover and bring to a low simmer for 10 minutes.
After ten minutes, the cranberries should be puffed or popping, and the honey should be dissolved. Add the lemon, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir. Simmer for five more minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the toasted pecans. Serve immediately or allow to cool and place in an air tight container to serve later.

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