Two Gnomes Table

My oldest turned five this month, I cannot believe it! We live on nearly 200 acres, and on some of those acres there are some impressive and ancient apple orchards. A few of these aged and beautiful trees are of the summer variety. We dont have to wait for fall to bake up a fresh apple pie, or crumble. So naturally for his birthday, my son requested apple crumble.

I do have to say, I am very pleased with how this recipe turned out, especially it being the first try, on a whim, and in a hurry with all the other hustle and bustle of birthday happenings. Just look how it glistens, begging to be eaten and of course accompanied by a cup of tea.

This recipe is dairy, gluten, sugar, egg and coconut free. Its got enough protein to count as a meal, so it’s basically breakfast. It has a Cassava flour crust – I’ll count that as a veggie! 😉 – a fruit filling (that gelatinizes with beef gelatin, replacing the pounds of sugar used in most recipes) and an oatmeal topping. I was worried about the crust not behaving like a traditional pie crust, boy was I pleasantly surprised to pull out the first piece and discover this! Perfectly flaky, and “buttery”, holding together the filling so beautifully! The beef gelatin not only offers a quality source of protein and amino acids, as well as binds together the filling to give you the customary mouth feel of grandmas pie. I also chose to sweeten this pie with Xylitol – I wanted to avoid the blood sugar spike and crash that accompanies sugar/honey sweetened treats and Xylitol does just that. It has zero impact on your blood sugar, making this a perfect treat for diabetics, those looking to reduce inflammation or loose those few extra pounds.

So lets get onto the recipe.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

For the filling you will need:

1. 3 pounds of apples
2. 1/2 cup Xylitol
3. 20 grams or 2 scoops Vital Proteins Beef Gelatin
4. 1 tsp Ceylon Cinnamon 
5. 1/2 tsp Sea salt

Peal, core and slice your apples. Mix in everything else and allow it to sit while you prepare the dough.

For the crust you will need:

• 1 cup Cassava Flour
• 1/2 cup Palm Shortening 
• 1/2 tsp Sea salt 
• About 10 Tbsp cold water

With a pastry blender, or fork, mix into crumbles your flour and shortening and salt. Once incorporated, slowly begin adding the water, and mix just until a dough forms. At this point, I pressed my dough into the pie pan to simplify my life. Cassava flour does not hold up as well to manipulation as regular wheat flour.

For the crumb topping you will need:

• 2 cups Oats
• 3/4 cup Palm Shortening 
• 1/2 tsp Sea salt
• 1/4 cup Xylitol

Mix together until uniform.

Assemble your crumble, and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown! Let cool for at least an hour before serving.