Emi’s Gluten Free Apple Pie Tartlets

Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving for me without apple pie.  Apples are such a great candidate for making a healthy baked dish!  Here’s the recipe Emi and I came up with.  We topped these gluten free apple pie tartlets with Dairy Free Cashew Cream.

This recipe is really low carb if you compare it to other apple pies!  Replacing most of the flour with cashew flour really helps!  In the crust we used mostly cashew meal, and just a little bit of potato starch.  The potato starch helps to crisp it up a bit and give it a good texture. Potato starch has resistant starch in it, which acts as a prebiotic (feeds healthy flora in your gut), and passes through without being absorbed by your body!  The starch is only in this form, however, if it is cooled.  For that reason, I recommend eating these little gluten free apple pies once they’ve cooled!

Note that the dates do have a lot of sugar, but they have a lot of fiber and phytonutrients, too, which makes them a much better option than sugar (and they add a rich flavor).  They come in at a mere 42 on the Glycemic Index, compared with sugar, which is 100, or raisins, which are 64.  Dates make a great sweetener for diabetics and others who want to keep the carbs low, for these reasons!

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Before we get to the recipe for these diabetic friendly, Paleo, gluten free apple pie tartlets, I want to invite you to join with others who are making healthy changes.  I’d love to walk alongside you in your journey towards wholeness and health! Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full!”  Freedom from food addictions is part of having a truly full life.  

 

Serves about 10

For the Crust:

• 2 1/2 Cups Cashew Meal
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Sugar or Xylitol (not Paleo, but a great natural option for diabetics)
• 1/3 Cup Potato Starch
• 1 Egg White
• 4 to 6 Tbsp Light Coconut Cream

Add the cashew flour (see note below), coconut sugar, and potato starch to a medium sized bowl and mix well.  Stir in the egg with a fork, then add cream 1 tablespoon at a time, until it becomes a crumbly mixture that you can form into a ball.  Add just enough liquid to form the ball.  If you’re having trouble getting your dough to stick together, add extra cream.

Note: If you have a hard time finding affordable cashew flour it is really easy to make!  Just pulse raw cashews in your food processor, until they’re a fine consistency.  I do not recommend almond flour for pie crusts, because I don’t think it tastes very good in this context.  It took about 10 seconds to crush the cashews in my single serve container for the Ninja Mega Kitchen System.

Use your fingers to press about 2 tablespoons into the bottoms and part way up the sides of a greased tartlet pan or muffin tin.  The recipe should make about 20-24 tartlets, so make sure not to make each crust too thick. Also make sure to pack the crust into the tins tightly, or it will crumble when you try to take it out!  Try pressing the bottom of a smooth cup in there to make them smooth.

For the Filling:

• 4 Large Granny Smith Apples (try to buy organic…apples are part of the dirty dozen, meaning the ones that aren’t organic have lots of toxins on them)
• 1 1/2 Cups Dates
• 1 Lemon (you’re just gonna use the juice)
• 2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1/4 Cup Light Coconut Cream
• 2 Tbsp Potato Starch

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the dates in a food processor and process until they form a paste.  Chop the apples into quarters and leave the skin on.  Since you will be running them through the food processor and making small chunks, the skin won’t make it too tough to chew on after they’re baked.  Leaving the skins on lowers the Glycemic Index (GI) number of the dish by adding healthy fiber.

Add the chopped apples to your food processor (on top of the date paste), and squeeze the juice of the lemon on top.  Add all of the other ingredients.  Pulse your mixture in the food processor until it looks like the following picture.  Note that it shouldn’t be too wet…add more potato starch if you need to.  In this picture I also added some dried cranberries and pecans.  Feel free to be creative with the recipe!

Scoop a couple tablespoons of the apple mixture into your prepared muffin/tartlet tins on top of the crust you’ve pressed in there.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the edges of the crust start to turn brown.  Serve with cashew cream or dairy free whipped cream.  You will probably have extra filling, but my kids took care of that problem quickly, eating it straight out of the food processor (obviously the blades were removed).  Enjoy!