Apple Crisp (recipe)

I love Apple Crisp. I think it was the first recipe I ever followed and the one I made most often over the years. I still have the card that was given to us in my 8th grade junior high home economics class. This card calls it "Apple Cobbler" but we always called it "Apple Crisp". The justification was cobblers were made with something more like pie crust, and crisp was the crumbly bits on the top. I suppose some call it "Apple Crumble" and the name depends on regional traditions.

I have no idea why I felt the need to save this card, but when it came to throwing away all my old gluten/sugar-filled recipes, I couldn't part with it. It's part of my personal history and it's OLD. I must be sentimental. Look at the butter stains all over it? Many, many years of use. Was there ever a time when I really ate a dessert with white flour biscuit mix (!), white and brown sugar, and butter? So evil. Ahhh, the memories! Apple crisp was what we always ate in the fall when the apples on the trees were ripe.

So when I came across this Paleo-style apple crisp recipe, I thought I'd give it a try. Then I tweaked it to perfection. There are some ingredients that are NOT on the Kharrazian Hashimoto's diet, but I have no problem with any of it so for me...it's perfect.

Apple Mixture Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled, cored, cut into variable-sized pieces
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 cup almond meal/flour
1/2 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup melted butter, organic, grass-fed
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons maple syrup (or other sweetener) (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the apple bits, lemon zest and juice, and spices together. Place in a baking dish and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes while you mix the topping ingredients in a separate bowl: almond meal, coconut, coconut flour, syrup/sugar and spices, pour melted butter over and mix well, refrigerate until cools and the butter hardens. Remove half baked apples and crumble topping over apple mixture. Bake for another 30 minutes. If the top isn't brown, turn oven up to 400 degrees and bake another ten minutes. (I've never had to do this as it's always brown.) Cool slightly. Eat warm. Serves 2 or 1 hungry person.

The first time I tried it I used a couple tablespoons of Grade B organic maple syrup and it was way TOO SWEET. Who would have ever thought I would think something is too sweet? So the second time I tried it I didn't use any sugar and it was great. I think it depends on the type of apples. Some are so sweet you wouldn't need any sweetener, but the topping is better with a little sweetener. It's very nutty so if you are on the GAPS, AIP, or any kind of leaky-gut-healing diet, this won't work for you, but it's perfectly Paleo and without the sugar it's even Paleo-Hashimoto's. Is it just like I remember? Heck no. But it's close enough. Maybe even better!

Yum.