It's never too late for apple pie...Gluten Free! Part 2

I topped this with coconut "whipped" cream to lighten the dairy overload...but it would probably taste better with the real stuff. Everyone at our table used RediWhip - which looked very tempting...

We spent Thanksgiving in the mountains of North Carolina. Karl and I enjoyed plenty of opportunities to hike and work off all the delicious apple pie we ate. Making the pies the day before we drove up, I put them in the freezer unbaked and defrosted them Thursday morning. The pies baked while we ate the turkey dinner. They came out so well - no one even noticed they were gluten free.

I love hiking in the mountains. Especially with this guy ;)

This is a very normal looking stream. What I didn't capture was the stream running through the trail itself. That was not normal and we had to take some precarious jumps and sideways moves to get through the muck.

The hiking trail even had a ladder to get over the big rocks. We felt so hardcore.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

from Annalise G. Roberts from her book

Topping:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced

Apple Filling:
6 cups thinly sliced apples
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375. Position rack in the center of oven. Make pie crust. Partially bake crust in oven for 10 minutes. Cool on rack while preparing apples and crumb topping. Turn oven temperature up to 400.

2. Combine flour, sugar, and xanthan gum for topping in medium mixing bowl and cut in butter. (I used the food processor). Topping should resemble cornmeal in texture. Set aside.

3. Mix apples with sugars, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Fill prepared pastry crust with apple mixture, mounding it. Dot with cut up butter.

4. Spoon crumb topping over apples and pat it down into place. Cover entire pie with foil. Place in center of oven and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Remove foil. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 30-40 minutes more until filling is bubbling and top is golden. Cool on rack.

It's never too late for Apple Pie...Gluten Free! Part 1

Homemade apple pie, with crust and everything from scratch, is surely a glimpse of the awesomeness of heaven ;)

 My job for Thanksgiving this year was to make the apple pie. Since my hostess also eats gluten free, she sent me a cookbook to aid me in my task. What a happy discovery!

Baking pie from scratch is a lot of work! But soooooo worth it! Everyone raved about it - and leftovers were even better.

Traditional Pie Crust 

from Annalise G. Roberts from her book

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. Brown Rice flous mic
2 tbsp. sweet rice flour
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 large egg
2 tsp. orange juice or lemon juice

1. Spray 9-inch pie pan (I used the throw away aluminum foil since the pie was traveling) with cooking spray (I used a mister filled with olive oil). Generously dust with rice flour.

2. Mix flours, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt in large bowl of electric mixer (I used my food processor and it worked beautifully). Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.

3. Add egg and citrus juice. Mix on low until dough holds together; it should not be sticky. Form dough into a ball, using your hands, and place on a sheet of wax paper. Top with a second sheet of wax paper and flatten dough to 1 inch thickness.

4. Roll out dough between the 2 sheets of wax paper. If dough seems tacky, refrigerate for 15 minutes before proceeding. Remove top sheet of wax paper and invert dough into pie pan. Remove remaining sheet of wax paper, and crimp edges for single-crust pie.

**Gluten free flour blend:
2 parts (2 cups) brown rice flour, 2/3 part (2/3 cup) potato starch, and 1/3 part (1/3 cup) tapioca flour.



Stay tuned for putting it all together!