In Heidi’s full moon column this cycle, she mentioned that we should be having warm foods, including things like soup and broth. Nourishing foods that satisfy us.

If you check under the Zodiac tab, you will see a soup recipe for winter but for today I chose an apple pie recipe for you. Apple pie is warm food for winter. Imagine yourself sitting in front of the heater with a cup of your favourite brew and some apple pie to warm your lungs.

Before we move on to the recipe, I would like to add that I played around with a few ingredients before coming up with this recipe. I cannot have a lot of pastry as my sugar will spike. Cakes with puff pastry or dough affect my glucose level, but I love apple pie with cream.

Today I have this amazing recipe and I use a healthy alternative to replace the pastry.

HEALTHY APPLE PIE

INGREDIENTS:         

• paleo granola – I use half a packet
• Butter – unsalted – I use quite a lot, about 150g
• 8 apples (I use Link Lady)
• A pinch of cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• A pinch of cinnamon
• Water as necessary

METHOD

1. Switch oven to 200º.
2. Peel your apples (reserve the peel if you want to make apple jam).
3. Remove the core and cut each apple into 6 slices so that they cook faster.
4. Put your apple in a pot, add a little bit of water, cardamon, vanilla essence and a pinch of cinnamon and let it cook. Keep adding water as necessary. Just enough so the apple does not stick to your pot but don’t boil the apple.
5. The apple slices only need to be half-cooked since you are going to fully cook them in the oven. The pot is just to get the apple soaking in the spices.
6. Mix the granola and melted butter in a bowl together with a wooden spoon. It doesn’t have to be mixed thoroughly because you will have to blend the mix. Once it is a bit sticky, add a little water, then pour the mixture into the blender. The mixture must be of a certain consistency, not liquid but not dry. Have a play around with it and add butter and water as necessary.
7. Check on your apples that they’re not cooked thoroughly. Use a fork to see if it they are still a little bit crunchy.
8. Use a spatula and press the granola in the dish making it mould to the round shape of the pie dish.
9. Pour your half-cooked apple into the pie dish then cover with the other half granola mixture. Again, use a spatula to make it flat.
10. Lower the oven temperature to 160 degrees and bake your pie. Keep checking regularly.
11. Your pie is ready when the granola has a light golden colour, but you can also use a fork to check if the apples are soft inside.

I serve the pie with some coconut cream and eat it warm.

This is a very healthy dessert or can be great for afternoon tea.