Fresh Strawberry Pie

gluten free fresh strawberry pie

This is a guest post by my mom. She and my brother-in-law both have July birthdays and this is their favourite dessert to celebrate the occasion!

This recipe should serve 6, but we have found that four people can finish the pie without any problems.  It's that good!

makes 1 pie

Ingredients

1 gluten-free pie crust baked and cooled. (My recipe here)

2 pounds of strawberries
3/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water (depending on amount of purée you get)

1 cup whipping cream, whipped with a splash of vanilla an 1/4 cup icing sugar

Optional: 4 oz cream cheese, blended with 1/4 cup sugar


Directions

Follow recipe for making a gluten-free pie crust, or buy a gluten-free pie crust already made from the store. If you want a more decadent pie, then use the cream cheese option and spread a little on the bottom of the pie crust after it cools. This is an especially good option if you want to make the pie more than eight hours in advance, because the cream cheese helps keep the glaze from making the crust soggy.

Hull and wash the strawberries. Pat dry with an old tea towel. Place strawberries into the crust flat side down, use the largest strawberries in the very middle and work your way out in circles from there. Save extra berries to purée for the glaze. 

To make the glaze you should have at least one cup of puréed berries if you do not have that much then you need to go back to the pie and steal some berries.  You need to have somewhere between one cup and one and a half cups of puréed berries. If you have one and a half cups then you do not need to add 1/4 cup of water otherwise you do.  

Add berries and sugar and cornstarch to a small saucepan. Make sure you mix in the cornstarch with a bit of cold water, or blend very well with the sugar before adding to the berries, so you don't get any lumps.  Cook the mixture until it bubbles. Allow it to cool for about five minutes, then pour evenly over the berries.  Put pie in the fridge to cool and top with real whipped cream just before serving.

hull strawberries and place, cut side down, in cooked pie crust

puree remaining strawberries

make strawberry glaze and pour over raw strawberries

slather with whipped cream and enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Lovers Pie

Gluten Free No Bake Chocolate Lovers Pie

This recipe comes from my mom. I have never made it, but I have tasted it and it's delicious! Very sweet and creamy. This is a great make ahead dessert because you can easily make the pie in stages (crust one day, filling another and freeze for up to a month). It's also great for summer because you don't have to turn on the oven!

makes 1 pie
Ingredients

Coconut Crust
1 cup Unsweetened Dried Coconut
3/4 cups Icing Sugar
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
1/3 cup Margarine or Butter
1/4 tsp Salt

Chocolate Filling
1 envelope Unflavoured Gelatin
 Tbsp Cold Water
2 Tbsp Instant Coffee Granules
1/4 cup Boiling Water
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
2 Cups Whipping Cream (before you whip it)
1 tsp Vanilla



Directions

Coconut Crust
Toast 1 cup of unsweetened coconut in frying pan over medium heat stirring constantly.
In a bowl, sift together icing sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
Melt margarine.
Combine coconut, margarine and dry mixture.
Press into a greased pie plate or parchment lined 9 inch spring form pan ( I would recommend spring form pan because it will come out a bit easier... especially that first piece)
Pie crust can be frozen for a later date or move straight to making the filling.

Chocolate Filling
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water; let stand 5 minutes to soften.
Add coffee granules and boiling water; stir until dissolved.
Let cool 5 minutes.
Combine sugar and cocoa powder with coffee mixture.
In a mixing bowl (or with a hand mixer) whip the cream and vanilla to about 2/3 of the normal whip cream thickness.
Slowly add coffee mixture to cream while continuing to whip it.
Whip until the mixture is stiff and pour into crust.
Chill a few hours to let set or you can freeze it for a later date.
For added decadence, top with a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings before serving.

Crust Mix

Press mixture into pie plate or spring form pan

Coffee and gelatin mixture

Dry ingredients added

Finished product

Pie Crust

Gluten Free Pie Crust

This recipe comes from my mom. She has perfected the art of pressing gluten free dough into pie plates. I am still working on this skill. It takes a bit of practice, but it's still more forgiving than rolling out dough like a traditional pie crust. 

You will probably only need about 1 cup of the dough for a pie crust. You will have quite a bit more than that, but you can freeze the leftover dough for later, use it to make some tarts (press into muffin tins) or bars, or make some sugar cookies out of it. You should make your crust roughly 1/4 inch thick (or even less if you want). You can measure the depth by stabbing a fork in until it hits the pie plate.

On my first attempt (see pumpkin pie) I didn't check the depth and ended up with a base that was way to thick. It still tasted good, but it was definitely lacking a bit in the pumpkin department. Learn from my mistakes and check your depth!

You can use this recipe for any open faced pie or tart. It's great for fresh strawberry pie as well as chocolate, banana or coconut cream pies. You can also use it as a base for dessert bars or squares.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Rice Flour
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Guar Gum (or 1 tsp Xanthan Gum)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cold Margarine
1/4 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

Mix together flour, tartar, baking powder, guar gum, and salt.
Cut in margarine until it's small pea sized.
Beat sugar, egg and vanilla separately. Add to dry ingredients.
Mix dough until it forms a clump (use your hands)
Press about 1 cup dough into pie plate so the crust is about 1/4 inch thick (or muffin tins, or a baking dish if making bars)
Bake 10 minutes at 350 before adding filling.
Bake again with your pie filling of choice.

add wet ingredients to margarine/flour mixture

ball of mixed up dough

pressed into plate (no more than 1/4 inch thick)... as you can see, mine is too thick

ready for the filling

sugar cookies made from leftover dough

Use crust for:

Pumpkin Pie

as you can see, the crust is waaaay too thick... live and learn

Butter Tart Bars

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Banana (or Coconut or Chocolate) Cream Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

A pumpkin pie recipe! Just in time for American Thanksgiving. This is my first attempt at making any type of pie, but my mom has made this pie recipe dozens of times, so I know it's good. As with most gluten free pie crusts, you have to press the dough into the pie plate instead of rolling it out. I messed up a bit with this part because I forgot to check the depth on the bottom of the crust. It turned out way too thick... oops. Luckily, the dough tastes like a sugar cookie, so it wasn't the end of the world. Next time I will remember to check the depth with a fork before baking the crust. Other than that slight misstep, the pie turned out great.

The pumpkin filling is especially easy to whip up using a blender. It's actually quite healthy too! Pumpkin is full of vitamins and fiber, cinnamon and ginger are thought to have a wide array of health benefits, eggs have good protein and milk has calcium. Also, there isn't too much added sugar. Of course when you bake it in a buttery crust and smother it with whipped cream it starts to look more like what you'd call dessert. Just know that along with all the fat and calories, there's actually some good stuff going on in that slice of pumpkin pie!

crust recipe here

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Puree
1 Tbsp Corn Starch
1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
1/4 tsp Cloves
     (or use 2 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice)
1 2/3 cup milk (I use 1%)
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs

Whipped Cream for topping

Directions

Blend all ingredients together in a blender.
Pour into partly baked pie shell. (crust recipe) If you can't fit all of the filling in, pour the extra into ramekins and cook alongside the pie.
Bake at 375 for around 1 hour.
Pie is done when inserted knife comes out clean.
Let cool completely and serve with a dollop of whipped cream (or ice cream).

before baking

after baking

yummy slices waiting to be eaten