Category Archives: Apple

Stewed Apples with Gluten-Free Lattice Cookies and Dairy-Free Cinnamon Ice Cream – Or, Apple Pie Deconstructed

Apple pie is one of the first things autumn beckons, but what if it’s not quite autumn and not quite yet the end of summer? It seems too early to be indulging in a warm piece of apple pie but this deconstructed version transforms the components of what makes apple pie so pleasurable. Stewed apples are served with lattice cookies that stand in as pie crust and a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, reminding us that it it isn’t yet too cold to be still eating ice cream.

September has rolled in and with it warming comfort food, gum boots, and hand-knit scarves, and rain in the air. It doesn’t seem too long ago that it was summer. Technically, it still is but it’s easy to forget when you’re back in school; leaves changing colour and crunching underfoot and the weather becoming cooler and the air crisper in the mornings. Personally, I embrace all seasons and the merits that come with it and I’m thankful to live in a city with a pretty mild climate. It doesn’t even always snow (when I was a kid that was a big deal). I like summer, but I also love bundling up; there’s a sense of cozy comfort about it. (And I’ll tell you now: I have a weakness for scarves, especially those that are knitted. I sometimes even layer them.)

So, not completely giving up on summer but also acknowledging that autumn hasn’t fully settled in, I made this basically deconstructed version of apple pie. The nucleus of this idea started with a dessert called “Apple of My Eye” in Elizabeth Falkner’s Demolition Desserts, a cookbook based upon the success of her bakery Citizen Cake in San Francisco.

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Apple Cobbler (GFCF)

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Yesterday Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving, giving thanks and celebrating those things that we are thankful for. Some people are confused about why Canada has Thanksgiving a month ahead of the US – why can’t we all just celebrate it at the same time, like Christmas? – or wonder if we indeed have a Thanksgiving, or a holiday similar, at all. Yes, Virginia, we do.

There are gripes about the chronological inconsistency of it: you see recipes for pumpkin pie from your Canadian neighbors’ blogs and you wonder where did the time go? Thanksgiving already? Yes, in Canada, but for the other half of North America, you still have a month to think about the Thanksgiving turkey (and that pumpkin pie).

But why? Why does Canada celebrate Thanksgiving earlier than America? Well, Canada has simply been celebrating Thanksgiving longer than America – going back to 1578 when Martin Frobisher returned safely from his search for the Northwest Passage and since 1879 celebrated every year but the dates being proclaimed annually and changed year to year, making it an unstable holiday, (at one point from 1922 to 1930 it was celebrated on November 11th, what is now Remembrance Day) until the Canadian Parliament proclaimed it as the second Monday in October in 1957.

With that said, one of the things I’m thankful for are your comments, like this reader’s comment (hello, Miss Kitty!) suggesting for the lemon millet biscuits to be used as a shortcake base. I rediscovered her comment and her suggestions when I was busy approving comments and going through Z’s Cup of Tea, doing any necessary link updates (I still find a lot of clicks to links from my old blog address whenever I check my blog stats and I’m still in the process of updating those links; if you come across any, let me know), editing typos that I missed the first time – who knew that a pot could be a poet? - all of which that fall under the general category of “blog maintenance”.

What things in your life are you thankful for?

apple cobbler without xanthum gum

Thinking of Miss Kitty’s idea, I decided to make an apple cobbler. I used the dough for the lemon millet biscuits (omitting the lemon) for the biscuit part. This cobbler is like having apple pie, but much more casual and much less work. No need for fussing over pie crusts, whether trying to make one from scratch or dealing with “soggy bottoms” (personally, depending on the kind of pie, I don’t mind them: I think it adds character), all you do is partially cook apples over the stove before baking them in a pan with spoonfuls of the biscuit dough-batter plopped on top. And what’s even better is that you can have it any time of day – for breakfast, dessert, or as a snack.

(without xanthum gum)

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Flourless Apple Pancakes (SCD & GFCF)

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Autumn is here, at least on this side of the hemisphere, and what better way to welcome in the change of season and weather with warm apple pancakes? Of course, they can be eaten cold or room temperature as well: I’ve packed them for lunches before. I was reminded to make them again one day when I wanted to make pancakes but didn’t really have any usual pancake ingredients on hand. Making them also provided my answer to what to do for this month’s Go Ahead Honey, this month’s theme being healthy school lunches – and apple pancakes just made out of grated apple and egg, with a little cinnamon, sounds pretty healthy to me, and filling. If you want to participate in this month’s Go Ahead Honey, click here for more info.

If you think you’ve seen these pancakes here before, you’re right. I wanted to do them over, though, since my photography’s improved and also including my own tips in the recipe (which includes a video), plus any possible, additional details I didn’t get into the first time. My recipe writing has developed considerably as well since those first early posts – those early ones are still easy to read and understand, allowing the recipes to be made successfully, but I like my writing now to be a little more involved than just instructions, such as smells and tastes, and tips I’ve picked up that I think help with the process whether it’s a recipe from a cookbook or not.

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