Pie! Good Food and Gluten-free
As the cold nip of Autumn creeps under the door, I start to crave pie. Not just the taste—I love the contrasts of smooth paired with crunchy or savory surrounding sweet. I love the smell of baking warming the house. I love creatively decorating a pie. For our holiday gatherings, pies are the stars on the dessert table, and we often get three generations into the act to make them together. Sadly, I don’t love the gluten that helps make a perfect pie crust. But doing without wheat flour doesn’t mean giving up great pie!
Gluten-free flour, cookies, graham crackers or cereal can all be transformed into delicious pie crusts. But I like to start my pies with ingredients that are naturally gluten-free: nuts, grains or legumes. By using these whole or lightly processed foods, you can skip the extra ingredients that have too many syllables and get added protein and nutrients as a bonus.
Now we are talking pie here and I don’t mean to imply that these aren’t “sweets.” There is plenty of cream and sugar pairing up with those nuts and beans. I just think if you can keep it as real as possible, or as close to whole foods as you can, you should. So, the GF emphasis in these pies is on “good food” rather than “gluten-free.”
Dough made with wheat flour (and gluten) holds its form well and is nicely suited to pies with lattices and tops with delicate decorations. Pie crusts made with grains, nuts or legumes are crumblier and tend to work best when shaped in the pan or rolled out in simple forms. Adding eggs to the pie crust or using refrigeration helps to build a nice crust, but decorative touches are created differently using “toppings.” These types of crusts are very easy to execute, but they do require extra time for chilling between processes.
I’ll bet even your wheat-eating guests will find these pies up to delectable dessert standards.
Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie with Quinoa and Oat Crust
Cranberry-raisin Pie with Chickpea Crust
Almond and Butternut Pie with Almond/pecan Crust
