Gluten Free Apple Crisp

I love apple crisp - it is one of those easy comfort foods you can bake up in a matter of minutes. I even have my little cheats - using oatmeal cookie mix mixed with cinnamon and a touch of brown sugar as my topping drizzled with maple syrup and corn syrup.

But my easy quick go to dessert is no longer possible on my gluten free diet. So I went on a search for a gluten free version. I mostly found recipes that used "gluten free oats" but this was not going to be an option. I thought about the quinoa flakes I had sitting in my cupboard with all the other "gluten free" flours I bought and thought I'd be able to mimic the oats by using them. So I narrowed down my search some more - and here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

6 apples (I used Gala), peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice (to prevent browning)
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp tapioca or arrowroot starch
1 cup quinoa flakes
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut oil (if you don't need to be dairy free, you can use butter - I find that it adds extra flavour. For this recipe I used half butter and half coconut oil.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8x11" baking dish. Set aside.

2. Toss the sliced apples in a bowl with lemon juice. Add the maple syrup and stir. (At this point I like to sprinkle the apples with some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to add some extra flavour.) Dust with tapioca starch to coat the slices. Pour the slices into the baking dish.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the quinoa flakes, sorghum flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt and whisk to blend. Add the coconut oil in pieces and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter. It should resemble a sandy mixture.

4. Spoon the mixture over top. Drizzle with some maple syrup and dab with butter or coconut oil.

5. Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes. Cover loosely with foil paper and bake for another 20 minutes. (Depending on the size of your slices, this could take longer.) The apples should feel tender and the sides should be bubbling.

6. Allow to cool a bit before serving, but it is served best warm.

The results were pretty good. My husband and I definitely missed the bigger clumps/chunks that happen in the crisp when you use oats. Maybe next time I would use more butter/coconut oil to make it a bit clumpier, but I think the size of the quinoa flakes are the main reason for this. But for a gluten free version of apple crisp, you really can't go wrong.