The Gluten-Free Homemaker

I avoided making pies for many years, but last year was a breakthrough for me.  I learned to make gluten-free pie crust and fresh pumpkin puree.  I shared my gluten-free pumpkin pie last Thanksgiving, and everyone loved it. 

This fall when I went dairy free, pumpkin pie was one of the first things I thought about missing.  For some reason I thought it would be really difficult to replace the evaporated milk in the pie and the butter in the crust.  How silly of me.

The other night we had a very early dinner, so afterwards the kids asked if I could make a dessert for later.  I responded with, “I could make a pie.”  You should have seen their eyes light up!  When I told them I had a pie pumpkin that I needed to use, they weren’t as excited.  Pumpkin pie wasn’t their first choice, but it was all I had to work with.  Plus the fact that I had been wanting to try a dairy free version.

First, I needed a dairy free pie crust.  I could have used my gluten-free pastry dough recipe that I recently used for a breakfast pie.  It worked well dairy free, but I really wanted to try my first pie crust recipe.  When I started making it, I realized it calls for a little bit of millet flour.  I didn’t have any on hand, so I decided to use sorghum flour instead.  In place of the butter I used Spectrum organic shortening (non hydrogenated palm oil).  The crust was pretty good, but the sorghum flour made it drier and more crumbly.  Next time, I’ll definitely go back to using millet flour.

Next, I needed a substitute for evaporated milk in the pie filling.  I thought coconut milk would work well, but my pickiest son thought I should use almond milk.  He doesn’t dislike coconut milk, but he doesn’t like coconut flavor in just anything, and he would be able to taste it.  The original recipe called for 1 cup evaporated milk, but I only used 3/4 cup almond milk.  Instead, I used 1/4 more pumpkin puree.  Otherwise, everything was the same.

The pie baked beautifully.  This time I put foil on the edge of the crust to keep it from browning too much.  The result was a very delicious pie that we finished off in one evening.  In fact, the kids who were not so thrilled with pumpkin pie both commented on how good the pie actually was.  I think they forgot how much better pumpkin pie is when made with fresh pumpkin puree.

Gluten Free & Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

• 1 pie crust recipe
• 1 3/4 c. pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c. almond milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Prepare the pie crust dough according to directions, but let it rest while you put together the rest of the ingredients. 

Combine all the ingredients using a fork to mix them together. 

Roll and press the pie dough into a 9 or 10 inch pie plate. Add the filling to the unbaked pie crust.  Bake at 400 degrees 45-55 minutes (longer for a 9 inch pie). 

Cover the crust with foil or a pie shield after about 30 minutes.   You can use foil by cutting a large round hole in the center of a piece of foil and placing it over the pie, loosely forming it to the sides of the pie dish. 

Let cool (at least mostly) before cutting.

View Printable Recipe

For more great cinnamon recipes visit Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.  This post is also a part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays where you will find many (but not all) gluten-free recipes.

Labels: dessert recipes, pies/pastry

“That’s the ultimate recipe!”  Those were the words of my son when he realized I was using this recipe to make several delicious foods.  I’ll show you one of them here, but more ideas will be coming.  Here’s a teaser:

 
This is not a typical pastry dough.  For one, it’s gluten free, and you have to accept the fact that gluten-free pastry doesn’t act like gluten filled pastry.  You can’t produce (at least not that I know of) a pastry dough that is both flaky and flexible.  My gluten-free pie crust works well as a bottom crust for pie, but not as a top crust.  It would fall apart.

This recipe is not flaky like the pie crust recipe.  It uses melted butter rather than chunks of cold butter typically used in pastry dough.  However, it is smooth, flexible and pretty easy to work with.  It’s really quite fun to have a ball of gluten-free dough that you can press, squeeze, roll, cut, fill, and fold.  Give it a try and get creative.

I originally made this recipe using 8 tablespoons of butter.  I was able to cut it back to 6 tablespoons and have it turn out well, but it does turn out a little more dry.  Depending on what you’re making you can use either amount and adjust the amount of milk.

Gluten-Free Workable Pastry Dough

• 3/4 c. brown rice flour
• 3/4 c. millet flour
• 1/4 c. sweet rice flour
• 1/4 c. potato starch
• 1 Tb. xanthan gum
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 6 Tb. butter (or 8), melted (or 8Tb. Spectrum organic shortening)
• 1/4 c. + 1 – 2 Tb. milk or milk substitute (or 1/4 c. only if using 8 Tb. butter/shortening)

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Using a fork, beat together the milk and egg.  Add the milk mixture and melted butter to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork.  It will look crumbly, but everything should be wet.  If needed, add a little more milk.



Now use your hands to form the dough into a ball and work it a little until it is smooth like this:



The dough is now ready to be rolled out or can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator.  Roll the dough out on a silicone mat, pastry mat or piece of parchment paper.  Use a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough to keep it smooth.



Experiment with thickness.  Rolling it very thin makes it more likely to break when folding or transferring.  About 1/16 – 1/8 of an inch works well.  The things I've made with this have been baked at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

I promised to show you one way I used this dough.  It won’t thrill many of you, but if you have kids, they’ll like it. 

Pigs in a Blanket
I made these as a snack the other day when my son had a friend over.  On his way out, the boy grabbed another one and told his mom he loved them!  She said she’d have to get the recipe.  They’re not gluten-free eaters.


I used Hebrew National beef franks and cut them into halves or thirds.  I then cut the dough into rectangular strips and rolled up the hot dog pieces like this:



Place them on a baking tray and bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes. Time depends on the thickness of the dough.



View Printable Recipe

Labels: appetizer and snack recipes, dessert recipes, pies/pastry

I have to admit, I was quite proud of this pie when I made it.  I’ve never been one to make pies.  I can remember learning the basics from my mom, but she didn’t make pies very often.  I did get to eat wonderful pies when I went to my grandma’s house (on my dad’s side), but she died when I was seven, so I never learned her secrets.

This fall I made up my mind to make a pumpkin pie from scratch—including the crust and the pumpkin filling. Of course, making something from scratch doesn’t necessarily make it good, but this pie was GOOD.  The crust was flaky and had a nice flavor, and the pumpkin filling was so much better than when made with canned pumpkin.  I’ve never been a big fan of pumpkin pie, so that wasn’t something I missed when I went on a gluten-free diet.  At Thanksgiving my husband and kids usually have the opportunity to eat store bought pumpkin pie that a family member buys.  My youngest son said he never liked those pies, but that this pie was really good.  I agree.  I can’t explain the difference, it is just much better.

My inspiration for this pie came from Phoebe at Cents to Get Debt Free.  I used her instructions for cooking the pumpkin.  I don’t have a canning size pressure cooker, but mine worked fine by placing half the pumpkin in, then cutting the other half in half to fit around the first piece.  She also gives other methods of cooking the pumpkin.


This picture shows the cooked pumpkin.  I simply scooped it into a bowl and mashed it up with a potato masher.  It was soft enough that by the time it was mixed with the other ingredients and cooked, there were no lumps.

I cooked the pumpkin first, then started on the pie crust.  You can view the gluten-free pie crust recipe here.  You can, of course, use a premade crust and/or canned pumpkin if you like.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. mashed pumpkin
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Instructions
Combine all the ingredients using a fork to mix them together.  Pour it into an uncooked pie crust.  Bake at 400 degrees 45-50 minutes.  Let cool (at least mostly) before cutting.

I wish I had timed myself making this.  Aside from the bake time, it didn’t take very long.  As you can see, the actual pie recipe is pretty easy.  I will never again be intimidated by the idea of making pie from scratch (at least not pumpkin pie)!



The October edition of “Go ahead honey, it’s gluten free!” is hosted by Heather at Life, Gluten Free. She has chosen a pumpkin theme.  Stop by at the end of the month to see more great pumpkin recipes.




This recipe is linked to Amy’s Slightly Indulgent Mondays at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.

Labels: dessert recipes, pies/pastry

Before I was on a  gluten free diet, I found pie crusts to be intimidating.  Since then, I have considered them out of the realm of possibility for my skills.  In recent months, though, I’ve been wanting to give it a try.  I did, and I was amazed that my first attempt turned out beautifully.

For my crust, I modified this gluten free recipe.  The first time I made it I used the amount of butter this recipe calls for (1 1/2 sticks).  It worked well, and because of all the butter was a bit like shortbread.  It tasted great of course, but I tried the recipe a second time and cut the amount back to 1 stick.  It still worked great so I’m sticking with that.  I love the buttery taste, but not all the calories!  A few of these pictures are from the first crust, but it looked about the same.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 c. brown rice flour
• 1/2 c. millet flour 
• 1/2 c. potato starch
• 1 Tb. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick (1/2 c.) cold butter or shortening (Earth Balance sticks should work too)
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tb. ice water (maybe a little more)

Instructions
I made this crust by hand in a mixing bowl.  It should also work well in a food processor.   Combine the dry ingredients.  Add the cold butter, cut in chunks.  Use a pastry blender (you can probably get by with a fork) to cut the butter into the flour until you have pea size or smaller lumps.  Add the egg.  Beat it a little with a fork and then mix it in with everything.  Add the ice water and mix it in.  At this point, the dough does not look like it will hold together. Mine looked like this:

Use your hands to press the dough together and it will look like this:
If it is still very crumbly and will not hold together, add a little more ice water, about one teaspoon at a time.  Try pressing it together after each addition.

Place the dough on a pastry mat, silicone baking mat, wax paper or parchment paper.  I used a silicone baking mat.  The width of it was just big enough.  Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 10 1/2 to 11 inch circle.  The edges will be ragged.

  At this point, it is ready to go into the pie plate, except that it has gotten too warm.  Mine was sticking to the mat.  We want the butter in the dough to stay cold, so I picked up my mat and placed it in the freezer for a few minutes.  You could also put it in the refrigerator while you work on the pie filling.

Once it is chilled, it should come off the mat pretty well.  If it breaks and cracks as you put it into the pie plate, that’s okay, pressing the cracks with your fingers will take care of it.  I flipped the mat over onto the pie plate, and then pressed the crust down into the plate.  

There should be some overhang around the edges which you can cut or break off.  I rolled out this extra and added some cinnamon and sugar, then rolled it up and baked it with the pie, but not as long.  Finish the edge of the pie how you like.  I didn’t spend much time on it because it is not as easy to work with as a gluten crust.
Now you are ready to add your filling and bake the pie.  I used this crust for a pumpkin pie, so no top was needed.  I’m not sure how well this would would work.  Trying to place strips on top would be tricky because they would break easily.  Adding a whole top might be the easiest if you could just flip it over on top of the pie filling.  Let me know if you give it a try.  I’ll probably be doing an apple pie some time this fall.
The pumpkin pie recipe will be coming up next!

Labels: dessert recipes, pies/pastry

When I was growing up, I loved rhubarb. I don’t remember eating it in pies or desserts, though I might have. I remember picking a stalk from a plant in our back yard, and just munching on it. I loved it that way!

I haven’t eaten rhubarb much as an adult, but I’ve seen so many recipes including it recently that I had to find some. When the farmer’s market didn’t have any, I found some at the grocery store. I of course, ate some raw, but I also made a pie. I don’t enjoy it raw as much as I used to, but I like the nostalgic feel it gives me.

This was my first time trying a Whole Foods frozen pie crust. I was pleased with the way it turned out. I decided to put a crumb topping on the pie which worked well.  So here is my version of a gluten-free strawberry rhubarb pie.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

• one 9 inch pie shell
• 4 c. rhubarb pieces
• 2 c. sliced strawberries
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. corn starch
• 1 Tb. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. sorghum flour
• 3 Tb. brown sugar
• 2 Tb. butter

Instructions

Wash and cut the rhubarb into pieces that are 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick. Wash and slice the strawberries. Put the above amounts of each in a large bowl. Add the sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice. Toss to coat. Let it sit about 15 minutes. While it sits, prepare the topping. Put the mixture in the prepared pie dish, and sprinkle the topping over it.

Crumb Topping: Combine the sorghum flour and brown sugar in a bowl.  Cut in the butter.

Bake at 350 degrees about 50 minutes, checking to see if the rhubarb is soft. Let it cool. If it cools completely, the pie pieces will hold together. We couldn’t wait that long. There was some leftover, and we found that it is also very good eaten cold out of the refrigerator.

Labels: dessert recipes, pies/pastry