Starch-Free Apricot Pie
This is a lovely alternative for people with a sweet tooth who pick and choose the specific carbohydrates in their diet. For an 8 inch pie, use maybe 7-8 apricots. Cut the fruit into chunks and simmer in 1/3 cup agave nectar with 2 tbs. butter, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. When the fruit lets go of its juices, in only a couple of minutes, strain. Return the sweet buttery juices to the stove and cook on low heat. After the liquid begins to thicken add a splash of cream or substitute (I used a couple tbs. coconut concentrate) and cook down until the mixture is syrupy. Add only the teeniest dab of lime or lemon juice.
Pictured here is apricot pie with apple. For the crust I used about a 1 1/4 cups almond meal, an egg, a pinch of salt, 1 tbs. room-temperature butter, 1 tsp. agave nectar. I used only about a cup of almond flour at first, then as I rolled it out between two sheets of wax paper, and found that for the size of the pie pan, it was too small and thin. So I sprinkled another 1/4 or so flour evenly on top, and rolled it all together. It turned out to be just the right size and thickness. Transfer into a buttered pie pan, the extra almondy side down, and bake at 350, until the crust is just beginning to firm and get a faint glow of color. Add the filling, and bake covered with a sheet of aluminum foil (almond flour burns easily) for about 30 minutes. After this time, the pie filling was still very loose, so I turned off the oven and let the pie cool in the cooling oven. After cooling, the texture turned out perfect.
I found that adding the extra almond meal to the rolled dough was a great technique that I may do on purpose next time, as I have had trouble with almond pie crust gluing itself against the glass. This pie crust turned out perfect.
Serve with vanilla conventional or coconut milk ice cream. Delicious.
Yoga-mat psychologist and Crohn's disease warrior, Nina-Lois Turtledove is deeply interested in philosophy, analytic and somatic psychology, peace studies, nutrition, tradition, and progress. This is her public journal where she spills her thoughts, and records her dreams, rants, and reflections.