So here's the thing, I know how to eat healthy, and I also know how to eat for my own unique body makeup's optimal function. That said, here lately, I just haven't cared.
A lot of that I think was due to the fact that I was so ill for the past twelve weeks or so, and it took what little energy I could muster to even function. The idea of cooking for my family and then making me separate dishes that fit into my whole auto-immune disordered realm was met with a bit ol steaming pile of mental meh.
Yes, that was terrible of me. And it wasn't like I was binge eating bags of cheeseburgers or forty-two gallons of ice cream in a setting. In fact, I only ate sugar once a week on average, but I have been eating refined flour a lot more than I usually do (which is pretty much never), and oof, do I feel it.
So, with that explanatory explaining out there, and baking season wrapping up (very little baking happens during growing season on the farm), I thought a good way to recommit to being more conscious about taking good care of my carcass would be to start baking and cooking more things that I can eat and are healthier overall.
Plus, there were a bunch of apples languishing in my fridge.
I still don't know why the herd of teenagers that inhabit my domain haven't annihilated the manzanas like the fructose destroying horde that they are, but for some strange reason these little Pink Lady apples weren't inhaled.
Upon inspecting them, I could see no visible blemishes, but they were shoved to the back of the fridge so I that got me to thinking it was more of my dad's paradox sort of scenario (If you can't see it, it doesn't exist)
Anyway, my brain started percolating with ideas. I then tied back my hair. In that manner I am like Violet Baudelaire off of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. Instead of things getting invented when I tie my hair back recipes get created. Sugar-free, flour-free baked goods can be super yummy, especially after sitting a day or so, and before you can say there's how many loads of laundry to fold? I had a recipe scratched out.
Now, what I came up with is like a streusel-ish snack cake. It's super simple to prepare, doesn't require a mixer, and other than the sugar substitutes and almond/coconut flour, doesn't really call for any odd ingredients.
Dodging the corgi and two of my ever-present cat contingent, I grabbed the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and bulk bag of Lankanto monk fruit/erythritol sweetener out of my cupboard.
I also might have been singing Blondie's Heart of Glass super, obnoxiously loud as I whisked the dry ingredients together.
Then, I peeled, cored, and diced the apples. Not my favorite job, but not my most hated either. That would probably have to be the time I had to sort and entire pallet of hairy, moldy strawberries in a Tacoma, Washington food bank in search of the few that were edible. Eeee....
Anyway, Then I added some duck eggs, sour cream, melted butter, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and using all my bicep power, beat that conglomeration into a cake batter sensation.
NOTE: It's a very thick batter.
I spread that thick batter in a greased 9X13 and moved on to belting out Where Is My Mind? by the Pixies, which if I am to be perfectly honest, is probably my theme song.
As soon as I kerplunked the apple bits into another mixing bowl, I measured out some of my Swerve brown sugar substitute (I LOVE that stuff), some cinnamon, and a bit more almond flour. Using a spatula, I mixed that stuff together with the apples, and then poured melted butter into the apple cinnamon topping.
After mixing that a bit, I spread the apple topping on top of the batter and popped the whole thing into a preheated oven for a bit of a bake. Thirty-seven minutes later I removed it. I think if you baked this cake in a glass pan you'd need a full forty minutes of bake time at 350 degrees, but since I was using a metal cake pan, thirty-seven minutes was threat level alright!
Then I had to fold forty loads of laundry while the cake cooled, which was a good thing because 1. It smelled beyond amazing, and 2. I WAS HUNGRY!
Side note: Do you ever fold so much laundry that you start having visions like you are wandering a desert and are parched with thirst. I swear I wasn't having a sock puppet show with the kid's athletic sock while wearing a FFA dress shirt as a mock queenly robe.....
Anyway, after I emerged from the Great Laundry Expedition, I sliced a piece of the still slightly warm apple cake and sat in my nook next to a toasty, crackling fire. Now, like a lot of sugar-free, flour-free baked goods, the cake was a bit on the crumbly side, but a lot of coffee cakes are so I didn't care about that too much, and if it really bothers me I'll throw a little xanthan gum in the dry ingredients next time.
But the taste, oh so freaking YUM! It was buttery, with just the right amount of sweetness, and I really, really dig the apple cinnamon topping. Like a lot.
Apples are not carb free, but thanks to their fiber content they are relatively low in carbohydrates, and as long as you eat one slice of this cake I don't think you are going to have an insulin surge as the entire cake only has two cups of apples. The whole cake has two and half small apples in it, so you are looking at 45 carbs total, in the WHOLE cake, from the apples. Not to mention all the fiber from the apples, the coconut flour, and the almond flour.
All in all, it was not too shabby.
And I would know, because I also ate a piece for breakfast this morning😉
Sugar-free, Flour-free Apple Snack Cake
The Base
2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup melted butter (you could use melted coconut oil)
1/2 cup sour cream (or coconut yogurt)
3 duck eggs (or 4 regular large eggs)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup Lankanto monkfruit/erythritol blend (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)The Filling
2 cups peeled diced apples
3/4 cup brown sugar substitute (I used Swerve)
6 ounces melted butter
2 TBSP almond flour
2 tsp cinnamonGrease a 9X13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
In a mixing bowl, whisk almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and Lankanto sweetener.
Next, add melted butter, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix everything well. The batter will be thick.
Spread batter in greased 9X13 pan.
In another mixing bowl, add apples, brown sugar substitute, almond flour, and cinnamon. Mix it all together, then add butter and mix until well combined. Spread filling on top of the base batter in the 9X13.
Bake in preheated over for 37-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out fairly clean.
Let cool, and devour! I think this would be super yummy with some whipped cream on top!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's always sugar-free iPhone.