Chayote Squash and “Apple” Blueberry Crumble (LC, GF, SF)

‘Tis the season!

No, not that season. Not yet anyway!

I mean Chayote squash season! Those funky little squashes are starting to make an appearance in the stores, which means it’s apple substitute season for low-carbers!

 

Doesn’t it just make you want to draw eyes on it and make it talk?

 

 

Anyway, I digress!

I’ll be posting a few ways to use these little squashes over the next while. They do require a tad of extra work simply because we need to soften them and give them that apple flavor, but it’s not a huge amount of effort and if you are missing apples like me, it’s totally worth it. And it’s such a yummy way to eat your veggies!

 

First of all, here’s the basic way to make the Chayote squashes into “apples”.

 

Low-Carb “Apples”

 

Ingredients:

1 Chayote squash

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 envelope of Alpine sugar-free apple cider drink mix (gluten-free cooks and carb savers: see note below)

2 tsp sugar substitute of choice

2 tbsp. water

 

Preparation:

Peel and core the Chayote. Chop into fine dices. In a non-stick saucepan, combine all the ingredients and boil until fork tender. About 15 minutes or so. Keep the lid on for the first little while to keep the moisture in, but take the lid off for the last 5 minutes until all the juice is absorbed by the squash.

 

And that is it. Makes about 1/2 cup of “apple” dices @ 6 g of carbs with 2 g of fiber, so 4 g of net carbs. If you are using a different spiced cider drink mix, please adjust the carb count!

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Now you can do whatever you like with them really. Add them to your pancakes, for apple pancakes, toss them in some butter and cinnamon for fried apples, add them to a pie etc. One of my favorite treats right now is some whole Greek yogurt, topped with some Chayote apple dices and a drizzle of  sugar-free honey!

 

 

Or you could make apple crumble!

 

 

“Apple” Blueberry Crumble

Ingredients:

• 1/2  cup erythritol, powdered 
• 1 envelopes Sweet One (or other sugar substitute)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup Bake Mix # 2 (or other bake mix of choice - including gluten-free)
• 1/3 cup of almond flour
• 1/3 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground

 

• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 4 drops of stevia extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (or almond bakery emulsion)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or buttery vanilla bakery emulsion)
• 3 large chayote squash, pealed and cut into small chunks
• 6 oz. of blueberries (or omit the blueberries and use a total of 4 squashes instead to make apple crumble)
• 1 envelope Alpine sugar-free spiced apple cider drink mix (2 if making apple crumble) - gluten-free cooks and carb savers: see note below
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsps. sugar-free vanilla syrup (or apple, cinnamon, unflavored, caramel - all those flavors work!)
• 1/4 cup water
• Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

 

Directions:

Place the peeled and chopped chayote into a non-stick saucepan with the lemon juice, spiced cider powder, water and sugar-free syrup. Cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes on boil. It helps to keep a lid on for the first 15 minutes, then take the lid off for the last 5 minutes and cook until the juice is almost all absorbed by the squash.

Place in a shallow dish and let it cool a little while you prepare the rest. Add the blueberries.

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the erythritol, sweet one, salt, cinnamon and bake mix. Using a pastry blender or your hands, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, the cream, the stevia extract and the almond and vanilla extracts.

Pour the cream mixture over the fruit/squash, and sprinkle with butter-flour mixture.

 

 

Bake until topping is golden brown and the plums are tender, about 30 -40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.

This serves 8.

The all chayote apple crumble is 80 g of carbs, 26 g of fiber,  so a net carb count of 54 g.

That makes it 6.75 g of net carbs per serving (without the whipping cream and with bake mix #2)

 

The chayote and blueberry crumble is 97 g of carbs, 27 g of fiber, so a net carb count of 70 g.

That makes it 8.75 g of net carbs per serving (without the whipping cream and with bake mix #2)

 

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Of course you could also make this crumble with all blueberries, or blackberries and blueberries, or “apple” and blackberries, all of which tastes quite delicious. In that case you would omit the drink mix, sugar-free syrup and water!

Note for gluten-free cooks: Alpine sugar-free apple cider drink mix contains maltodextrine, so it is not suitable for a gluten-free diet. You can use 1 tbsp. of apple juice concentrate instead (adjust the carb count) or use an apple/apple cider flavor concentrates like this one or this one or this one from nature’s flavors.

All are excellent flavors and are sugar-free, gluten-free and essentially carb free, saving 8 g of carbs on the crumble recipe and 2 g of carbs on the “Basic Chayote Apple” preparation. However, the alpine drink mix is available at local grocery stores (walmart, target etc)

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