Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

Nothing says "Fall" and "country desserts" like apple crisp.  Oh, how I love it!  It's so simple to make, so much easier than a pie, and everyone seems to love it so much.  I have so many farm memories of sitting outside on a very cool day with a plate of hot, hot apple crisp with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream right next to it.  I would eat the hot apple crisp from one side and then cool my mouth with the ice cream from the other.  And the part in the middle where the two met?  Heaven on Earth.

A small plateful of heaven.  (Yes, I went back for another plate!)  No one will ever guess that this is a gluten-free dessert!

This recipe is very simple.  If you have apples, gluten-free flour, sugar, butter, and oats, you basically have apple crisp.  You can put it together in under half an hour, and it's delicious hot or cold.  So let's get started!

In the bowl of your food processor fitted with the blade, mix together the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, and nutmeg for a few seconds.  Add the sugar and brown sugar and process until well blended.  Then add the butter in chunks and process again until the butter is in small pieces.  Dump all of this into a large bowl.

Add the oats to the mixture and mix in by hand.  We want the oats to remain whole, so don't add them to the food processor.  Peel, core, and slice the apples and add them to a buttered baking dish.

Distribute the the oat mixture evenly over the apples in the baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.  Here you can see how the topping has browned some.  It's ready to remove from the oven when the sides have started to brown and there is bubbling/sizzling throughout, including the middle, although the middle won't be as browned.

1 cup (130 g) of gluten-free flour mix

1 cup (7 oz) of sugar

1 cup (7.5 oz) of packed brown sugar

1 cup (96 g) of certified gluten-free rolled oats

1 cup (8 oz, 2 sticks) of butter

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of xanthan gum

1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg

6-8 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  Add the gluten-free flour mix, xanthan gum, cinnamon, and nutmeg to your food processor bowl fitted with the blade and process for a few seconds.  Add both sugars and process again.  Add the butter in chunks and process until the butter is in small pieces.  Don't over-process, though, or you'll turn it into a dough.  Dump the contents into a large bowl, add the gluten-free oats, and mix thoroughly by hand.  Peel, core, and slice the apples and place in the baking dish.  You want to make sure the entire bottom is completely covered with apples.  If you have very large apples, you may only need six of them.  Otherwise, eight will do nicely.  Distribute the flour/sugar/butter/oat mixture evenly over the apples.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.  When ready, the sides should be a medium brown color, although the middle will be paler.  There should be bubbling/sizzling throughout.  Serve warm or cold.  Delicious with vanilla ice cream on the side!

TIPS:

1.  I use my own gluten-free flour blend, called "Mel's Magic Mix," which is a blend of sorghum and rice flours with corn, potato, and tapioca starches.  My ratio is 3:1 (flours to starches), and I think this works well.  But you can use any good gluten-free flour mix.  If your mix already contains xanthan gum, then omit it when mixing up this recipe.

 

2.  Be sure to buy certified gluten-free oats.  Quaker and other ordinary supermarket oats are not certified gluten-free, and some people have problems with them.  Certified oats are grown in fields where wheat is never grown (as opposed to "regular" oats), harvested with equipment that does not touch wheat, and transported in clean sacks separately from wheat.  I use Bob's Red Mill oats.