No sugar, no crust…is this even pie?

I guess it’s not technically pie, but it has all the right flavors and it’s delicious!

Apples have lots and lots of natural sugars, like most fruits. Along with bananas, apples have some of the highest natural sugar content of any fruit. Sometimes apples and apple juice are even used as sweeteners, instead of processed sugar, for organic and natural desserts.

What does processed mean when we’re talking about sugar? The white granular sugar you may see in your home is usually made from these two plants:

Sugar cane is a type of grass that is packed full of natural sugar. Sugar beets are beet plants with very sugary roots. When they are processed, the cloudy brown, sugary juices are squeezed out of the plants by machines. The water from the juice evaporates, and brownish sugar crystals are left over. Sometimes these brown sugar crystals are sold as sweeteners. Sometimes, they are cleaned even more, pulling out all the minerals and vitamins and leftover microscopic bits of plant matter, until it is sparkling and white, leaving only the sugar behind. This is what we call table sugar. It is as pure as sugar gets.

It’s OK to have this type of sugar in moderation, meaning sometimes, and in small quantities. But it’s better for your body if you can enjoy sweets in their natural form, like eating a whole apple or banana.

We’re going to make a delicious apple-pie-like dessert, with only the sweetness of the apples themselves for sugar!

Ingredients:

• Four large sweet apples, cored, skinned (optional), and sliced thinly. (Try Pink Lady, Gala, Fuji, Jonagold type apples)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon flour or gluten-free flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 Tablespoons of slightly melted butter or margarine (don’t get it too hot, or it will burn you!) *

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and combine well. Melt the butter in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Add the apples and toss them into the mixture to lightly cover them with the spices and flour. Now add the water and melted butter, and smoosh it all around with your fingers until all the apples are covered with the spices and flour mixture. Spread everything out evenly in an 8×8″ baking pan and bake for about 40 minutes, stirring the apples every 10-15 minutes.

What you will end up with is an ooey-gooey apple pie filling that you can eat just like it is for a healthy snack or dessert, put on top of ice cream, or add to a bowl of granola. Yum!

* Vegan Option: Replace butter with coconut oil.