I’m making this tonight for our family visiting for the weekend.

Sugar-Free Apple Cobbler: 

This recipe is free of sugar, eggs, wheat, corn and nuts.

Ingredient List: apples, butter, white spelt flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt, heavy cream, baking powder.

First, grease a casserole dish, cake pan or pie plate with butter.

Peel, slice and chop 4 large apples. Choose a sweet, red variety like Fuji or Braeburn. No Granny Smith’s here please.

Sprinkle 2 tsp. cinnamon, a dash of cloves and 1/2 tsp. of salt over the apples and stir to coat.

Next, melt half a stick of butter in a large (cast-iron if you have it) skillet. Toss in the apple and begin to saute them over medium heat in the butter.

Sprinkle 2 tbls. of white spelt flour over the apples and stir until all the flour is combined with the butter and apple juices. This will make a roux which will thicken your cobber base.

After a few minutes of cooking pour 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream over the apples stirring and simmering until thickened. Remove from heat. The sweetness of the cream combined with the apple juices adds just enough sweet to make this naturally sweet and delicious without needing sugar. (Note: if you wanted it a little sweeter you could substitute 1/2 of apple juice for 1/2 cup of the cream.)

Now, for the topping. This is basically like making homemade biscuits.

In a large mixing bowl add 3 cups white spelt flour (you could use any flour of your choice here, but I think baked goods come out particularly well with this spelt flour), 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt. Stir to combine and then cut in 1/2 stick of butter using a pastry blender. Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and stir quickly until it all just starts to come together adding a dash more cream if the mixture is too dry. Try to avoid overmixing. The cream here too adds a touch of sweetness so that you don’t need to add sugar to the pastry.

Spoon your apple mixture into your greased casserole dish. Now, using a large spoon or cookie scoop add dollops of the dough. Don’t worry about filling in every space with dough as it will rise as it cooks and all the nooks and crannies will get filled in.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until your biscuit topping is golden. Serve with whipped cream if desired. It’s delicious! Enjoy!

Note: If you are diabetic and trying to avoid sugar, the fat (cream and butter) in this recipe will help you metabolize the carbs from the apples and dough.

All Done.

I used a little maple syrup that I’ve saved for years to store my Missouri Maple Syrup.

My great-grandmother Maggie lived on a farm in Missouri. I don’t know whether or not she had maple syrup. However, I know that she was frugal and creative in a pinch. Tonight was one of those nights for me. I had decided to make breakfast for dinner – eggs, sausage and waffles. Yum! One problem. I realized that we were out of maple syrup.

What to do? Do I turn the three burners off that were currently in the middle of cooking everything ,dress the kids and walk to the store for more? Then the moment of inspiration hit! I’ll make my own. I remembered my mom doing this in a pinch when we were little.

So, here’s how to make your own maple syrup substitute. The taste and texture is actually very similar to the real thing. Everyone in my family loved it and wouldn’t have even realized that it wasn’t maple syrup if I hadn’t told them.

Over dinner (breakfast actually) we decided that such an invention should should be named after Maggie and my husband called it “Missouri Maple Syrup” in honor of her. I think the name has stuck. Here’s how you make your own maple syrup – or something pretty close.

Missouri Maple Syrup: Mix equal parts dark brown sugar and water in a saucepan. I made a small batch using about 1/4 cup brown sugar (learn how to make your own brown sugar here) and 1/4 water. Heat to a simmer. While it’s heating, mix 1 tbl. corn starch and 2 tbl. cold water. When the brown sugar mixture is simmering, gradually pour in the cornstarch mixture and stir until slightly thickened to the consistency of real maple syrup. If you find the syrup too thick add a touch more water. If you can’t use cornstarch, then mix 1 tbl. of flour with a mild tasting oil. Blend well to make a thick paste and add to the mixture on the stove, stirring until thickened.

Everyone loved this so much I may start making big batches of it and storing it in the fridge. When money is tight it’s certainly cheaper than buying real maple syrup. That’s a luxury – an expensive one!

Yum! Waffles – made with my favorite cast iron waffle maker.

Missouri Maple Syrup on these waffles.