I was reading through Self magazine that I inherited from my older sister and came across a recipe for Apple Pie.  I had just bought Pillsbury's pastry and pie crust and decided this would be a perfect recipe to try it out! Pillsbury just released their gluten free line in stores during September and I was really excited to try them out.  Last week I tried their gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough. First off - I know that these are not the healthiest options when it comes to baking however it is always nice to have a quick and easy gluten free option when you are just craving cookies. Honestly though besides the modified food starches the ingredients are pretty normal. They won't kill you. So if you are looking for a quick way to satiate that sweet tooth definitely pick up the cookie dough. Only downside - they did have a slight potato after taste on the first couple bites.

So I decided to try out the pie and pastry crust with a delicious apple pie. Unfortunately I didn't realize until after I had been to the store that I don't own a pie pan. Thankfully I had recently seen flat apple pie on an episode of the Pioneer Woman. So inspired by both recipes I came up with the following YUMMY recipe. The pie and pastry dough worked really well for this recipe and tasted amazing. I am interested in trying more recipes using this dough. P.S. I was extremely excited that the dough puffed up.

Flat Apple Pie with Oat Crumble

1 tub Pillsbury Pie and Pastry Dough (or your own pastry dough)
5 medium apples (I used 4 small Yellow Delicious and two large Granny Smith apples. I could have been fine with 1 less apple but better safe than too little apple)
1/3 cup plus 6 tbsp brown sugar, divided
2 tbsp Tapioca Flour (you could use another starch like corn or potato)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup GF flour (I of course used Pamela's baking mix) 4 tbsp butter **i used the Earth Balance coconut spread - my favorite butter substitute. If using coconut oil or coconut spread use 1 less tbsp.

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples. A normal recipe will tell you to slice them 1/8 inch thick. However I will tell you to slice them as thick or thin as you want. After the first apple I stopped caring and just sliced away.
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In a large bowl combine apple slices, 1/3 cup brown sugar, tapioca flour, juice, and cinnamon.
4. In a smaller bowl combine remaining 6 tbsp brown sugar, oats, 1/4 cup GF flour, pinch of salt, and butter.
5. Place half the dough between two sheets of parchment or wax paper and roll into a large circle. I used a standard sized cookie sheet and rolled it until the circle almost touched the shorter ends of the sheet. (Okay I'm not sure there is a standard size so I went and measured it and it's about 10 inches wide.)
6. Place half the apple mixture in the center of rolled dough. Use the parchment paper to help you bring the edges of the dough over the apple mixture. See below picture:

7. Sprinkle half the oat mixture on top then lightly cover the pie with a sheet of aluminum foil. This helps the apples cook since many recipes have a crust on top.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes then drop the temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 10-15 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10-20 minutes. Just watch that your crust isn't getting too dark on the edges. As soon as the crust is a nice golden brown it's time for it to come out!
9. Serve warm or if your weird like my husband freeze it and eat cold ;)

mmmm apples and cinnamon - my favorite

Soft Pretzels...just like the ones you find in the mall!

I could be a spokesperson for Pamela's Gluten Free products. They are the BEST! I really would love to make my own flour mixes but due to lack of money and being so far from a health food store I started using Pamela's flour and mixes. They do have xanathan gum in them, which I am not a huge fan of, but that's okay for right now. These products are a life saver. And one of the best one's I have tried so far is the Bread Mix. I first used it for pizza crust (UM let me tell you it made an AWESOME Chicago deep dish pizza) but decided to try it for pretzels after my sister showed me a recipe she found on Pinterest. This recipe came from Fifteen Spatulas and I adapted it to be gluten and dairy free.

Soft Pretzels

12.5 oz Pamela's Bread Flour (2.5 cups)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant quick rise yeast (1 packet)
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp baking soda
3 tbsp unsalted butter **i use earth balance vegan butter or coconut spread

1. Combine all the ingredients except the 3 tbsp of butter in the bowl of a mixer and mix until somewhat combined. You can also use a spoon and some elbow grease.
2. Lightly dust the dough with a tad more flour and let the dough rise in a ziploc bag for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (**please see note) and lightly grease a baking sheet OR use parchment paper.
4. Remove the dough and place onto parchment paper that has been sprayed with oil or brushed with coconut oil. Divide dough into 8 pieces.
5. Whisk together the warm water and baking soda and cook in the microwave for 1 minute. Meanwhile start boiling water in a medium sized saucepan.
6. Roll each of the eight pieces into a long rope and shape each one into a pretzel.
7. Dip each pretzel into the soda wash and place into the boiling water for 30-40 seconds (or 15-20 if flipping sides). Then place the pretzel onto your baking sheet. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
8. Bake for 20 minutes until the pretzels are golden-darker brown. Brush the pretzels with melted butter while they are still hot and sprinkle sea salt OR my favorite - cinnamon and brown sugar.
9. Eat all the pretzels NOW because they don't taste as yummy the next day ;)
**note - you may need to play with the oven temperature and time. the original recipe said to bake at 450 for 10 minutes but this made the outsides hard and the insides uncooked. I would start at 400 and adjust as necessary. I think it's better to cook them at a lower temperature for longer.

If you are unsure of how to twist these into a pretzel, check out the original recipe for pictures and directions. I'll try to add pictures soon!