Today I wanted to make a no added sugar apple pie. It has been quite some time since I’ve written a recipe. I’ve been working as a content curator for a local food company, part of which involves blogging recipes. Consequently my own blog’s food section has been getting a little bit dusty.
However, and this is an exciting however, I recently decided to ditch the job and go freelance. Exciting, terrifying, AAAH, etc. At the moment I’m not sure what exactly freelance will involve. I anticipate some Instagram content curation, a steady supply of stock photography, a little bit of crying, some self-employed photography work and finally a sprinkle of self-discovery.
The thing that I’m looking forward to most about going self-employed is having more time to invest in my own blog and social media. I plan to give the blog a face-lift and remake/expand the recipe section. You might already be aware, many of the recipes here are from at least half a decade ago. At this point I only knew how to click the shutter button on my iPhone. Today I can spend hours playing with a dSLR and styling food. HOPEFULLY, then, this section get markedly better.
Let’s start the move with a healthy apple pie recipe. One thing that hasn’t changed in the last half-decade is my obsession with healthy baking. My family often request no added sugar and either a low or healthy fat content. I treated myself to a pretty skillet pan a few paydays ago, so thought it would be fun to make my first skillet pie. I’ve also been a little bit mesmerised by the apple roses that I’ve noticed popping up on Instagram. Combining the two made sense.
To get the apple slices to form a rose shape, they should be slices into thin semi-circles and layered on one another like this (excuse the scribbles, I didn’t photograph the process). I would line around four or five at a time before adding them to the rose shape:
You then need to wrap the lines of apple slices around each other as follows:
Note to self: add learn to draw to to-do list…
Squeezing the apples into this shape will make them stick together to hold the rose in form.
Without further ado, let’s get to the recipe!
No Added Sugar Apple Pie
Ingredients:
Filling:
- 4 Large Apples (I used cooking apples, these are HUGE)
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 3 tbsp powdered sweetener (e.g. Stevia)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
Pastry:
- 150g flour of choice (I used a mix of buckwheat and plain)
- 60g margarine (vegan if prefered)
- 4 tbsp powdered sweetener
- dash of almond milk
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180C and spray a skillet pan or pie dish with oil spray.
- Begin by making the pastry. Sift the flour and powdered sweetener into a bowl.
- Add the margarine and mix with your hands until well combined.
- Add some almond milk, a splash at a time, until the mixture reaches a dough-like consistency.
- On a floured surface, roll out the pastry and line your dish.
- Bake the pastry for 5 minutes and then set aside.
- Now you’re ready to make the filling. Peel the apples and slice into small semi-circles. Place the slices on a large plate or bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice with the cornstarch, sweetener and cinnamon. Top up with 2 tbsp water.
- Pour the liquid ingredients over the apple slices and mix with your hands to ensure they are all coated.
- Microwave the apple slices for 2-5 minutes until they are soft. You should be able to bend them with your hands, though they shouldn’t be so soft they fall apart.
- Place the apple slices into your pastry in a rose shape (scroll to the guide in the introduction to see how this is done).
- Bake your pie for 20 minutes, until the apples appear nice and golden.
- Serve warm, ideally with ice-cream or custard.
- Enjoy your no added sugar apple pie!
– | Calories | Carbs | Fat | Protein | Sodium | Sugar |
Whole | 1183 | 206g | 29g | 18g | 25mg | 75g |
Per Serving (1/6th) | 197 | 34g | 5g | 3g | 4mg | 13g |