Dear apple pies everywhere,
I'm sorry for avoiding you for the past 35 years. I was ignorant. I had no idea you could be SO delicious.
Will you forgive me?
Now I will fully embrace you with open arms (and open mouth lol)
And now that you're made gluten/grain-free, dairy-free, and SUGAR-free, I'm all IN.
AND YOUR CUTE COOKIE CUP?? Freaking ob-sessed!
How to make COOKIE CUPS
Chewy, a little crisp on the outside, deliciously sweet and satisfying. The PERFECT vessel for a mountain of soft apple pie and vanilla ice cream.
But wait. No flour, sugar butter or eggs? Nope! And they taste like real cookies!
What are they made of??
- Almond flour instead of wheat flour (so they're gluten/grain-free)
- Avocado oil instead of butter (so they're dairy-free)
- Flaxseed instead of eggs (so they're vegan)
- Monkfruit instead of sugar (so they're low-carb) but you can use maple syrup and coconut sugar if you're not low-carb
EASIER THAN PIE
These cookie cups are super easy to make! (Much easier than conventional pie crusts I think) It's a simple mixture of the ingredients and pressing the dough into a muffin pan.
No chilling, cutting in butter/shortening, no ice water, no rolling, no stretching, no tenting the crust. JUST MIX IT UP. 😀
You can actually press in the dough using a ¼ cup size measuring cup. I love that little trick! (tip: covering the measuring cup with parchment prevents sticking)
BUT, I do recommend getting your hands a little dirty so you can make sure it's an even thickness all over. You don't want it too thin around the top or it will burn while the rest isn't even done yet.
ps. don't forget the little strips of parchment paper underneath so you can EASILY remove your cookie cups from the pan. 
FILL ME UP
This apple pie filling is SO good and actually much healthier than conventional recipes!
HOW? There's NO added sugar or dairy or starch!
Regular apple pie recipes call for SO much sugar. It's just not necessary. The apples already have a lot of sweetness which is concentrated by cooking.
But they DO need a little extra sweetness, so... My solution? MONKFRUIT. Yep, I LOVE IT.
If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it. The taste is incredible. There's no aftertaste!
I used a combination of Lakanto monkfruit-sweetened maple syrup and granulated monkfruit. So there's a little hint of maple flavor, which goes so well with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Wanna try monkfruit? (HECK YEAH you do) Click here and enter code PRETTYPIES at checkout for a sweet 20% discount on your entire order.
If you're NOT low carb:
No worries. There's a simple swap for the monkfruit. Instead of the sugar-free maple syrup, just use regular maple syrup (real, NOT aunt jemima! lol)
And instead of granulated monkfruit, use coconut sugar (Cane sugar works, too, btw. They're all interchangeable)
A la mode
Time for another confession: I had never tasted apple pie a la mode until... YESTERDAY :O
I know. Crazy, right? I had food aversions growing up (and still kinda do). Some textures freak me out lol.
I polled my Instagram peeps a couple days ago asking if apple pies really *need* ice cream on top.. Is it a REQUIREMENT or would they be good as is? Well a whopping 81% said it was required!
SO, I decided to be brave and give this whole ice cream on desserts thing a good ole college try using my 4-ingredient dairy-free ice cream recipe.
And YOU GUYS WERE SO RIGHT. The ice cream on top makes a good pie SO FREAKING GREAT.
You've gotta add the ice cream on top, people. Trust me. Trust the 81%. IT'S WORTH IT.
Oh, the amazing contrast of textures and flavors... the chewy & crisp cookie, the soft melt-in-your-mouth spiced apples, the cold, pillowy ice cream slowly melting... I can't get over it!
Low-Carb Apple Pie Cookie Cups
Ingredients
Apple Pie Filling
- 3 green apples - peeled (I left 1 unpeeled) and chopped into small pieces
- 1 ½ Tbs avocado oil - or other neutral oil
- 2 Tbs monkfruit maple syrup - or pure maple syrup for non low-carb
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 Tbs monkfruit granules - or coconut sugar for non low-carb
- 1 Tbs cashew butter - or almond butter
Cookie Cups
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 2 Tbs avocado oil - or other neutral oil + more for greasing pan
- 2 Tbs ground flaxseed + 2 Tbs water
- 2 Tbs monkfruit maple syrup - or pure maple syrup for non low-carb
- 1 Tbs monkfruit granules - or coconut sugar for non low-carb
- scant ¼ teaspoon pink salt
Instructions
To make the filling:
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped apples, sweetener and spices and stir well to coat. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat slightly, stirring occasionally, until apples are softened (about 15-20 minutes) Stir in cashew butter at the end.
- Turn heat down to low to keep warm until cookies are ready. While the apples are cooking, prepare the cookie cups.
To make the cookie cups:
- Preheat oven to 375. Grease a muffin pan with oil and line 8 wells with two ½" strips of parchment paper crossways for easy removal.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flaxseed, oil, water and sweeteners. Set aside to thicken.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together almond flour and salt.
- Pour wet mixture over dry and mix into a dough. (If too dry, add a small splash of water. If too wet, add a dash of flour)
- Scoop roughly 1 ½ Tbs dough into each well. Cover with a piece of parchment and press into the bottom and up the sides to form cookie cups. Use a small measuring cup and or your fingers to help form even cups, careful not to make it too thin around the top edge or it will burn.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden. Don't worry if they have bubbled up; you can press them back into shape with a shot glass or small measuring cup. Set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan.
- Fill each cookie cup with about 2 Tbs apple pie filling. Flatten.
- Enjoy warm or at room temp with a scoop of homemade dairy-free ice cream (recipe in notes), a sprinkle of chopped pecans and a dash of cinnamon.
Notes
- 1 13.7oz can coconut milk
- ⅓ cup natural almond butter
- 1 Tbs vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon pure monkfruit extract or stevia
- pinch of salt (optional)
Shelby
Looks delicious! I’m allergic to almond flour. Do you recommend another flour?
Emily
Can you have cashews? I love using cashew flour for cookies. I make my own flour by grinding raw cashews in a food processor.
Amy
These are wonderful! And great portion control, too. Would be great for holiday dinner parties because of the presentation and automatic serving size.
Emily
Thank you! Yes, don’t you love individual desserts? Perfect for entertaining 🙂