Sugar-Free Stone Fruit Cake

SUGAR-FREE PEACH/APRICOT CAKE

The finished product - golden brown and luscious

Is this a cake, a tart, a pie.....? Call it what you will, this is the perfect use of all of the apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums dropping off the trees at this time of year! This delicious recipe is so easy and so good, you may find yourself making it several times in one week. Not being very sweet, it makes a lovely coffee cake, breakfast, snack, or dessert. Try any stone fruit, and if you wish, replace a cup or so of the stone fruit with some fresh blueberries. As always, this recipe is sugar-free, high protein, and low-carbohydrate. Although this is perfect for folks like me who are diabetic or have a metabolic disorder, everybody else loves it, too. Only YOU will know that it's sugar-free!

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

PASTRY

Press the dough firmly and gently up the sides

1 1/4 cups almond meal
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Swerve OR 1/4 cup erythritol + 2 TB xylitol + 1/2 tsp stevia powder
6 TB unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp almond extract
1 large egg

Mmmm - super ripe Royal Blenheim apricots from my tree!

FILLING
2 1/2 pounds stone fruit, washed, dried, pitted and cut into fourths (apricot, peach, nectarine, or plum)
OR replace 1/2 pound of fruit with 1 cup fresh blueberries
2 TB almond liqueur
1/2 cup Swerve OR 1/4 cup erythritol + 2 TB xylitol + 1/2 tsp stevia powder
1 TB tapioca flour OR 1 TB tapioca quick-cooking tapioca

For the Pastry: 
1. Using a food processor, pulse the almond meal, flour, salt, baking powder, and sweeteners until they are just combined. Add the butter and pulse until the mix resembles coarse meal, with some pea-sized butter chunks. Add the egg and almond extract and pulse until it just comes together.

2. Using floured fingers, press the pastry into a spring form pan, flattening with the palm of your hand, and coaxing it up the sides of the pan until it reaches half way up the sides. (You want the pastry to be as least as high as the fruit.)

3. Chill the pan in the refrigerator until firm, at least 15 minutes.

For the Filling:

1. Meanwhile, prepare the fruit. Wash, dry, pit, and cut the fruit into chunks. Add the almond liqueur and stir to combine.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the sweeteners with the tapioca flour thoroughly (available from the bulk section of Berkeley Bowl or in packages from Bob's Red Mill), or, if you are using quick tapioca, whirl the sweeteners with the tapioca in a spice mill until the tapioca becomes a flour.

3.  Sprinkle the fruit with the sweetener mix, and stir gently to combine thoroughly. Spoon the fruit mixture evenly into the chilled springform pan. Cover with foil, place on a baking sheet (the butter does tend to leak out the bottom.) and bake, covered, for around 1 hour and 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown around the edges.

The filling should come just below the pastry line

4. Cool, uncovered, on a rack, for at least 1/2 an hour. Carefully remove the sides of the springform and put on a platter. Wait until the cake is thoroughly cooled before serving; the filling will firm as it cools.

Cherry Tomato Cobbler with Gruyere Crust

Summer is officially over, but we have been having a killer heat wave here in Berkeley for the past week, giving the last cherry tomatoes an extra push in productivity. About this time of year, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's a bit sad that summer is over; it's hard to get up on these dark mornings, hard to know that there will be no more melon or tomatoes or cucumbers until next year. On the other hand, in some ways I've already moved on in the garden; neglected, over-ripe tomatoes are falling to the ground in the back yard patch, and I'm ready to plant something else.

This delicious recipe I cut out of Martha Stewart Living years ago uses two pounds of mixed cherry tomatoes, putting that final rush of bounty to good use. The crust recipe, rich with butter and gruyere cheese, makes enough for two cobblers; put half of it aside in the freezer for the next batch of cobbler, or dream up another delicious use for it later in the season. (Be warned - although the crust lasts well in the freezer, it does not in the refrigerator. Once you have thawed it, use it within a day or two at most.)


Mixed Tomato Cobbler With Gruyere Crust

From Martha Stewart Living

Crust: (Makes 2 crusts; freeze one)
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup grated gruyere, plus 1/4 cup for top of crust
1 cup cold unsalted butter, (two sticks) cut into 1/2" pieces
1/4 cup ice water

1. Use your food processor's grating attachment to grate the gruyere, then set the cheese aside and put back in the regular blade.

2. Place flour, salt, sugar, and 1 cup of the cheese in the bowl of a food processor; pulse briefly to combine.

3. Add butter, process until mixture resembles coarse meal, 8-10 seconds.

4. With machine running, pour ice water (about 1/4 cup) little by little through feed tube. Stop the machine, then pulse until dough holds together without becoming wet or sticky. Don't process more than 30 seconds.

5. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each into a disk; wrap in waxed or parchment paper, then place in a reusable plastic bag. Chill 1 in fridge for an hour, wrap the other well and freeze for later use.


Filling:
1 TB butter or olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds assorted cherry tomatoes, rinsed, dried, and de-stemmed
1/4 cup + 2 tsp flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup chopped basil
pinch of freshly ground pepper

1 egg

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

2. Melt 1 TB butter or oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened and translucent, 5-7 minutes. Cool.

3. Place tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss with flour, salt, sugar, basil and pepper. Add cooled onion mixture, toss to combine. Transfer to a deep 9 1/2 or 10 inch pie dish.

4. Roll out half the dough into a circle 1 inch larger than pie dish. Transfer rolled dough to top of dish; tuck in edges to seal. Make 3-4 slits in crust, form decorative edge if desired.

5. In small bowl, mix egg with 1 tsp water. Brush egg glaze over crust, sprinkle crust with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Place pie dish on baking sheet to catch drips. Bake until crust is golden and insides bubbling, about 50 minutes. (Most of the egg will be left over; I like to fry it in the pan I've just cooked the onion and garlic in, then sprinkle it with any leftover gruyere. With an additional egg, this makes a lovely small supper dish for your child who can't stand to wait for the cobbler to cook, or who dislikes tomatoes.)

6. Resist the temptation to eat it right away; cool to room temp before serving so the juices thicken up and you don't burn the roof of your mouth.

A lovely dry vin rosé, like the excellent one in the picture (a birthday gift) is perfect with this dish.