You surely can’t beat a good ‘ol apple pie on a crisp fall day… or can you? What if I told you it was a good ‘ol apple pie, without any sugar? I hear ya, I hear ya – Oh, then it must not taste nearly as good as a regular apple pie. FALSE. This pie is party-approved, dessert-lovin’ husband-approved, and grandparent-approved, which are three of the highest qualifications in my book!

Before you start, don’t let the “total time” scare you. This recipe is ridiculously simple. If you must must must shorten the time, you might be able to get away with taking the crust out of the fridge a half an hour sooner (and please oh please don’t use store-bought crust!). You might even be able to slice into your fresh-from-the-oven pie 30 minutes after you take it out of the oven — they’re not hard-pressed time estimates, but even if they were, it’s 100% worth the time it takes to make!

So light up your favorite fall candle and get baking!

Honey-Sweetened Apple Pie

Prep Time: 20 min | Inactive Time: 2 hour | Cook Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 3 hours, 20 min
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 20 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes (2-1/2 sticks)
• 4-8 tablespoons ice water, as needed

Filling

• 5-6 large apples, peeled and cut (I like to use Gala since it adds additional sweetness)
• 1/3 cup honey, plus 2 tablespoons for brushing
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

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Directions:

Pie Crust

1. Add flour and salt to food processor and pulse to combine.
2. Add butter to food processor and pulse until bean-sized crumbs are formed.
3. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until dough just begins to form.
4. Split dough in two, form into disks, wrap separately in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

Filling

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In large bowl, mix apples, honey, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg, tossing to coat.
3. Roll out one disk of dough to 1/4 inch, or desired thickness, and press into pie plate. Cut off excess dough from sides.
4. Spoon apple mixture evenly into crust.
5. Roll out second disk of dough to 1/4 inch, or desired thickness, and cut into 12, 1-inch strips.
6. Arrange 5-6 strips along pie, then make a lattice pattern by arranging another 5-6 strips the other direction across the first strips.
7. Place pie plate on cookie sheet and bake in oven for 1 hour.
8. Brush lattice with honey after removing from oven, then let cool for 1 hour. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

It’s faaaaaaall! And don’t give me that “Actually, the first day of fall is the 22nd” bologna. The weather has turned and fall festivities have begun in the Artman household – life is good!

One of the things I’ve really been trying to focus on recently is keeping added sugars out of my food, and honestly? It’s tough. You’d be surprised where sugars hide – peanut butter, ketchup, bread, pretzels. You name it and it probably has sugar in it. It’s crazy. Often times I just resort to making meals from scratch, which I love doing, but what about dessert? I may not like the idea of sugar, but I’ve got as much of a sweet tooth as anyone. How does one make that work?

Well I’m all about natural. That’s a funny word though – “natural” is used haphazardly in the food industry. Specifically, it has zero meaning. Any company can put “natural” on their packaging and it doesn’t mean anything. What I’m talking about is natural versus regular/artificial. Like the sugar found naturally in fruits – no one tells you to limit how much fruit you eat because of the sugar content. That’s silly!

My favorite kind of natural sweetener is honey (second would be maple syrup). What’s more natural than the stuff that comes from bees? Bees are responsible for pollinating our flowers and crops, so the stuff that they create from that is about as natural as it gets. I don’t load everything I make with honey, but if something calls for sugar, I try my best to incorporate honey instead.

So when it came to making apple pie, I wondered if it was possible. I’m not brave enough (yet) to attempt it on my own, so I spent a good amount of time on Google trying to find a recipe, and I found one! I tweaked it just a tad to make sure it incorporated all my favorite elements in a traditional apple pie. I’m never going back to a sugar-laden apple pie ever again.

So what are you waiting for? Try it for yourself!