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Dutch Apple Crumb Pie

Apples, is a favorite American fruit and the main ingredient in America’s favorite pie.   This crumb topped pie is easier than a two-crust pie. I gave you the amounts for a 9-inch pie; I myself generally make it 10 inch; use 10 cups sliced apples and higher end of amounts of sugar, tapioca and spices.  Bake 55-60 minutes.

I used just golden delicious apples in this most recent apple pie, and they were apple perfection, held their shape without any crunchiness. They also play well in pies made with other baking apples like Empire, Ida Red, Rome to name a few.

I used a Bob’s Redmill GF crust mix someone gave me; pretty decent if a bit trickier to roll out than my usual homemade crust. Definitely a good choice when you don’t have the time for a scratch pie crust. I did use my homemade crumbs. They are the best!

I put this pie together in a few steps; make the crust dough; put it in fridge to chill while I peel, slice and cut up the apples. I also throw together the crumbs before rolling out the pie; you don’t need to rinse the mixer bowl from the crust then.  If you plan to prebake your crust those ten minutes of baking the empty pie crust are also a good time for making the crumbs and preparing the apples too! I generally move an oven shelf to the very bottom of my oven and that helps the bottom crust bake fully.

Each step is fairly easy but the results are spectacular.  Of course, you could buy a readymade unbaked crust but this crust I use is really tasty: my mom never believed it was gluten free!  This disbelief of hers was proof of the great flavor and texture of this particular basic gf pie crust.unbaked-apple-crumb-pie

It goes without saying that this pie is great with a slice of vanilla ice cream.  Fall is the best season for apple pie as they are fresh and full of juicy flavor.   Be seasonal whenever possible when it comes to fruits, and you will get the best taste in your fruit-based desserts.

Apple Crumb Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 2 Tbsp. brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 Tbsp. sweet rice flour

1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbsp. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Directions: Spray a nine-inch pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.

Roll out the flattened ball into a pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in the pie pan, be sure to center it.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.

Filling:

8 cups thin apple slices from 8-9 medium-large sized apples, I like a mixture of yellow delicious and at least one other cooking variety; red Rome, Jonathan, empire, Courtland, or any tart apple you like to bake with. Note: I have made it just with Cortland or with Golden Delicious apples; excellent pies!

Peel apples, quarter, cut out core, slice into 1/3 inch thick slices. Mix in a large bowl with:

¼ cup brown sugar

3-8 Tbsp. granulated sugar (3= pretty tart, 8 if you like it sweet)

2 Tbsp. minute tapioca or tapioca flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

A good sprinkle of ground nutmeg

A small sprinkle of ground ginger (optional)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Heap in pie crust.

Crumb topping

Put all four ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Finishing directions: Sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix; use as much as you like.  I like about 2/3 of the mixture.  Up to your personal taste…  Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 55-60 minutes until bubbly and the crust is light brown.  You can cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil for the first 30 minutes.  I bake my pies at the lowest possible level shelf, so my crust gets crisp but if you have issues with soggy bottom crusts; prebake your crust for 10 minutes; then fill and bake immediately.

Cool the pie at least 3 to 4 hours before serving at room temperature.

Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

The crust and crumbs are from Annalise Roberts’ great cookbook: Gluten-Free Baking Classics. My filling is slightly different.

Originally posted February 2015. Revised slightly and updated 10-29-23.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

I made this dish early last week and just loved how it came out; fresh pasta filled with a ricotta and pumpkin mixture and served in brown butter full of sage leaves. Fall on a plate! I made maple flavored breakfast sausage to serve with these raviolis and the maple sausage went perfectly with the pumpkin flavor.

The dough is very basic; 2 ingredients, King Arthur basic GF flour and whole large eggs plus a sprinkle of salt. It is pretty close to Annalise Roberts’ pasta dough. Her recipes are the best; my copies are well worn! I have a pasta roller attachment to my KitchenAide stand mixer and it works very nicely to do the rolling out of fresh pasta dough. GF dough needs no rest period. I did let mine stand while I ran an errand. The first two passes through the machine were crumbly and ragged. Run it at least 3 times; more likely 4 through the pasta machine until it gets smooth and no longer has rag edges; I actually cut off the edges on the second run through and folded them in to give a neater edge. Do flour the dough between passes through. You don’t want it sticking. after 4 passes this dough was silky smooth and pliant; perfect for ravioli making!

The filling is also very simple; 2 main ingredients; pumpkin puree and ricotta cheese. I used canned puree as I had an open can and I had part skim ricotta; you can use whole milk ricotta if you have some. A sprinkle of nutmeg and there you have it; a quick yet delicious filling for your ravioli.

Pumpkin Ricotta Ravioli and Brown Butter Sage Sauce.

Ingredients

Pasta:

1 1/2 cups King Arthur Basic GF flour blend plus more for rolling out

3/4 -1 Tsp. xanthan gum

3 large eggs

a sprinkle of sea salt

Filling:

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup ricotta

a pinch of salt

1/4 rounded tsp. of ground nutmeg.

Sauce:

3-4 Tbsp. salted butter

7-10 fresh sage leaves

DIRECTIONS: Put the flour in a big bowl, sprinkle with salt and gum, made a depression in the center; and add the eggs. Stir with a fork pulling in flour to the soft mixture. Try to integrate all the flour into the egg mixture. Hand knead for a few moments to make sure it is a smooth mixture. If you are not using it immediately wrap it in plastic to keep it moist.

Roll it out; I cut mine into 6 chunks and flattened them as I used that chunk; flatten so it will feed into your pasta machine. feed it through 2-4 times folding it between each run so it is like a square/rectangle. This is at the fattest setting of your machine. Lower the setting to the next thinner one and run it through once or twice. I lay mine out on plastic cutting boards as I roll them all once and then at the next setting. I stopped there; if you want thinner pasta lower the setting and run through just once.

Mix the ricotta and pumpkin in a large mixing bowl, add nutmeg and salt and mix again briefly. Drop a scant tablespoon of filling (might be closer to 2 teaspoons) on one side every 3-4 inches. I use a small bowl of water and my finger dipped in it to run around where the dough will be cut. Fold over the dough; press the edges gently trying not to trap air inside the ravioli. I have a ripple edged cutting wheel. Use it or a knife to cut the dough to form individual ravioli.

Heat a pot of salted water to a slow rolling boil. Drop in 4-6 ravioli at a time. I cooked mine 3 minutes. Don’t let it boil once they’re in; almost boil is where you want the water to be. Make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan, I used a spatula to dislodge any that were sticking. They will rise up to the surface. Use a slotted spoon to remove them and put them in a wide low bowl while you continue to cook ravioli.

While they cook make the sauce. Put a small frying pan on to heat. Add the butter cut into 3-4 slices. Watch it melt (on medium heat) and look for it to color; add sage leaves to butter once it starts to brown a bit. Let cook until medium brown and remove from heat; that will take less than a minute; stay right there watching it, better you turn off a tiny bit early than it gets burnt. Pour over bowl of cooked ravioli and serve. Enjoy!

Summer Tomato Soup with Spaetzle

Summer always is tomato time around here.  But it’s now officially autumn and this day is distinctly chilly. I still have a few nice tomatoes, so I made my homemade tomato soup but added something special to it. Spaetzle; skinny egg dumplings which my mom made free form and tossed in her tomato soup often served for Saturday lunch. I got a lovely spaetzle maker for Christmas which I had not used too much yet and so I decided that I would try to replicate my mom’s luncheon soup. You don’t have to make spaetzles, but I highly recommend them. They really shine in the soup’s rich flavor; they are delicate and delicious.

I generally make Ina Garten’s tomato soup recipe but simplified a tad.  I made it today without the cream; I don’t think it goes as well with the spaetzles. So, if you don’t make spaetzles and don’t like it creamy leave out the cream or use half and half or whole milk for less calories.  If you are a vegetarian use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. I actually did half of each type of broth today as I had nearly a cup of veggie broth to use up.  You can strain or blend the soup. I never strain but sometimes I use my immersion blender to make it smoother. But I generally prefer it unstrained and chunky. Note: It has a good amount of garlic which you can reduce as wished.  I cut back on the salt, but you can cut it even further as you wish.

Your family will love this soup with a sandwich or salad. It is naturally gluten free.  GF croutons would bring a lovely crunch to it if you have any and aren’t doing the spaetzle dumplings. Enjoy!

See my trusty spaetzle maker in action! Notice how thick the dough is,

 

Just after I added the dumplings and before I put the lid on for their 5 minute beauty bath.

 

Fresh Tomato Soup with Spaetzles

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red or yellow onions (2 onions)
2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped (5-6 large)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves

2-3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream/half and half or whole milk (optional)

Spaetzle Ingredients

1 large egg

100 grams of Better Batter gf flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4-1/3 cup 2 percent milk ( I believe I used a full 1/3 cup)

Soup Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and sauté for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.

Or: use your Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker to make it; saute as per recipe in the pot, add the rest of the ingredients and put the lid on and cook under pressure 20 minutes.  You might have to blend it a bit with an immersion blender. I sometimes leave off the cream but my next paragraph is how to add that….

Spaetzles:  Beat the egg with a whisk in a medium mixing bowl. Add in the milk and then the salt mixed with the flour, Stir briefly until you have a very thick batter. Use a spaetzle maker to drop the dough in strands into the hot soup; I added it about 6-8 minutes before the soup was supposed to be done. I cooked it 5 minutes once all the dumplings were in and turned off the heat; let it stand 10 minutes. 

Thick, chunky and fragrant with EVOL and fresh basil as well as the ripe tomatoes. Heavenly.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cream-of-fresh-tomato-soup-recipe.

Original post of this was way back in the summer of 2014.  Minor changes and addition in this recipe of the spaetzle dumplings. Enjoy!

Salad Nicose; Classic Summer Supper Salad

This dish is a family favorite in those summer months of ripe tomatoes and hot days that feel too warm for a big heavy meal. I know it has cooled down some but this salad is so delicious if you have fresh summer tomatoes which are easily available at farm stands or home gardens. This salad is composed of several vegetables cooked until just barely done, bathed in a simple EVOL vinaigrette and topped with oil packed tuna. Fresh, satisfying and very healthy in that trendy Mediterranean way I keep reading about. This salad is my daughter’s favorite from her teen years; she is 31; I have been making it for decades! My mother loved it too. My guy enjoys it as well. I don’t make it except in summer as the fresh produce is critical to the flavor especially the tomatoes.

First, you start with fresh ripe summer tomatoes, crisp bell peppers, tender zucchini and high-quality small potatoes, preferably red organic ones and the oil packed tuna of your choice. Do not make it with water canned pallid tuna, a total waste of time in my opinion. You can lay it on a bed of romaine leaves or leave off the lettuce, great either way. I use fancy olives sometimes, but inexpensive small canned pitted ones work really well. Please do make the homemade vinaigrette; it is very simple and very effective in creating the perfect flavor of the salad. If you hate one of the ingredients; leave it out. I do want to mention that many recipes use wedges of hard boiled eggs but my version doesn’t usually have that. Feel free to add them in!

Before I add the tuna….

Angie’s Salad Nicose

Ingredients

2 lbs of small red potatoes

2 medium peppers; one red, one green, cut into vertical strips and halved across the middle.

1 medium zucchini sliced in 1/2 inch half rounds

1/2-2/3 lb fresh green beans, tips removed, if long cut in half

2/3 of a 14 oz can of small pitted olives, drained

1 large ripe tomato cut into chunks

2 cans oil packed tuna fillet

Vinaigrette
I use one of those cool modern vinaigrette jars that has a wire metal ball in it to easily mix my dressing in; works really well!

Fill jar with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or to the water line [If using a Good Season’s jar – second line from bottom]

Fill rest of way to oil line with EVOL (I often do half EVOL and half mild olive oil) (about 2/3 cup)

Then add the following:

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp. French Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sea salt; rounded

ground black pepper to taste – cap it and mix it up well

Salad directions

Put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and boil on high until just tender. Whie, they cook chop the individual veggies. Steam each kind individually in a pot with 1/2-inch water until just tender (3-5 min) Taste one to be sure., do not overcook them! Carefully drain each cooked veggie and dump gently into a big bowl. On top of each other. Make the vinaigrette as you do the cooking so it can stand 5-10 minutes. When the potatoes are done drain them and set on your cutting board to cool; not touching each other. Peel them and slice thickly. If they are oval, I sometimes just cut into two thin halves, cutting along the long side. Put them in the bowl you will serve the salad in. When all hot potatoes are peeled pour 1/3 of the vinaigrette over them and carefully turn with a big spoon to coat well. They should still be quite warm when you do this step. The dressing soaks into the warm potatoes; doing it warm is very important to the flavor. Put the cooked and drained veggies in there on top. Add the tomato chunks, tuna and olives. add another third of dressing and gently turn the salad to mix well. Adjust the salt/pepper and dressing amount. Serve on a plate or shallow bowl on a bed of torn up crisp romaine leaves. Enjoy!

Peach Crisp with Oat Topping

I rarely make peach crisp and this small pan of crisp I whipped up by lunchtime today made me wonder why that is. It is so peachy flavored and the topping is perfectly crisp; I am just sad that peach season is about over, and I only made it this once. Sigh. Well, I plan to enjoy it even though it is not a huge pan; all the remaining peaches I had after a cobbler and peaches on my cereal every day for a week… Plus, I dislike soggy crisp, so it seemed perfectly sized to be all eaten before any sog sets in. I did poach the peaches 2 minutes in a hot water bath to make the skins slip off easily; I strongly suggest you do the same. Let them cool 5 minutes before you peel and slice them. So much easier than using a peeler and laboriously peeling with it. Plus, now they are nicely warmed from the poaching and ready to make into crisp. Don’t be tempted to use canned peaches; that would be a sad parody of peach crisp. Get fresh ones! There are still peaches at Bechdolt’s Orchard.

Notes: This recipe is a slightly different version of the fruit crisp in Annalise Robert’s Classic GF Baking Cookbook. I like less sugar and I like oats in mine plus I downsized it by approximately one quarter. It is easy to throw together in 15 or so minutes and bakes up golden and sweetly crisp. So peachy I wanted to devour the entire pan full! This hastily taken picture give you some idea of its looks; I was in a hurry to eat some before heading out to an appointment, so my photog skills were somewhat impaired.

Angie’s Small GF Peach Crisp

Fruit filling Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of skinned, pitted and sliced fresh peaches

1/4 cup of sugar

A heaping 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon

3 Tbsp. tapioca flour

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees, put shelf in middle position for baking; I used a 6-cup size glass rectangular baking dish. Next, put sliced peaches in a large mixing bowl, blend the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over the fruit, mix with a spoon and pour into the baking dish that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the lemon juice. Make the topping next.

Topping:

3/4 cup gf flour (I like King Arthur’s basic GF blend)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 scant tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 heaping tsp. of xanthan gum

3.5 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/4 cup old fashioned oats, gf

Directions:

Mix together dry ingredients except oats and pour melted butter over the mixture. Stir briefly and then add the oats and stir until blended and sort of clumping. Spoon over the peaches. Bake 30-35 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving it in dessert dishes. I like it plain but some people I know love all things peach with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!