Gluten Free Mini Pies

I was craving pie the other day and so I decided to try my hand at making a gluten free version.  I had also been concerned about whether or not I would get to eat dessert at Thanksgiving or not.  I decided to go for a mini version of a pie for 2 reasons: 1.) higher crust ration and 2.) ease of eating and storing.

This recipe makes 9 to 12 mini pies using a muffin pan.  I used a drinking glass to cut the pie shells.  The pie shown here is peach.

Gluten Free Mini Pie Recipe:

Filling:

Any of your favorite gluten free pie filling.  Many brands are gluten free, so just read the label.  A couple of examples are Comstock and Musselmans.

Crust:

1 cup almond flour ( I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup all purpose gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup butter - chunked
2 Tablespoons of cold water (you may need to add more, just watch your dough and see - add a Tablespoon at a time until the correct consistency)
Cinnamon and brown sugar, to taste (optional)

Directions:

1.) Add dry ingredients to your food processor and pulse to mix
2.) Add in butter and pulse until the texture is crumbly.
3.) Add water to bind the dough together
4.) Sprinkle flour on flat surface and roll out dough.
5.) Use a drinking class that is floured or greased to cut circles.  You may need to re-roll scraps until you get the right number of crusts.
6.) Grease muffin pan and place crusts in the bottom of each section.  You want the crusts to go up the sides a little bit to hold the filling.  The dough is really forgiving, so if you need to patch holes, cracks, or thin spots go ahead and use scraps to patch the crusts.  This will not make the crust tough.
7.) Bake in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes until it starts getting golden brown (but not quite done)
8.) Remove muffin pan from the oven and add filling to the crusts.  If you are using a pie filling with large pieces of fruit (ie. peaches), put them in the food processor for a few pulses first.  You want the filling to fit in the crusts, but not be mush.
9.) I sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar at the point, but its optional.
10.) Bake the final product for an additional 10 to 15 minutes (10 is normally enough)

These pies should slide right out of the molds, or you should be able to scoop them out with a spoon.  These are best served fresh, but do hold up well for later.

This recipe was developed by using this recipe from the All day I Dream About Food blog.

Southern Style Biscuits and Gravy for the Gluten Free Crowd

Last night I made Breakfast for Dinner.  Our normal "go-to" breakfast is pancakes/waffles, bacon, and eggs, but I wanted something different.  Tonight I wanted to try biscuits and gravy.  My husband was skeptical.  In fact, he told me to cook him something separate because he didnt think they would be edible.  Boy did I surprise him!

*Sorry there are no pictures in this post.  I was too hungry to think about taking pictures.

Biscuits (This is very similar to the recipe provided by the Betty Crocker Website)

2 Cups gluten free Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Add the salt to the Bisquick. Using a fork, work the shortening into the Bisquick mix until the texture of the Bisquick changes.  Stir in the milk and eggs.  This makes 10 nice sized biscuits.  Separate the dough out onto a greased cookie sheet.  I recommend using surgical gloves that you have sprayed with PAM as the dough is very sticky.  Bake at 400 degrees for 16 minutes or until golden on top.

Gravy

2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of gluten free all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup of oil or bacon/sausage grease (use however much you want.  I just used all the drippings from my bacon)
Milk (I eyeball this so I dont really know how much - probably 2 to 3 cups)
Pepper and salt to taste

Toast the flour in a skillet.  Be careful because I found that the GF flour burns more quickly than standard flour.  Add in your grease and stir until combined.  Cook for 2 or 3 minutes.  Add in the milk.  Stir until combined.  Add in salt and pepper.  Cook until thickened.  (adjust thickness by adding more milk if needed)  This yielded enough for 5 or 6 biscuits (if you like to slather on the gravy like I do).

*Notes: These biscuits are really good, but dont expect them to taste like homemade buttermilk biscuits, because they aren't.  My next foray into biscuits will be to try a buttermilk version.  The gravy needs work, but is very good.  I think this gravy would be awesome with sausage crumbles in it.  Next time I will also add more salt and pepper than I did this time.