Just cause it is hot doesn’t mean I can’t bake a pie.  Ran my exhaust fan to carry off some of the excess heat.  Worth it for the yummy pie to share with friends and family. I was out of town and missed sour cherry season in late June. Bummer.  So…cherry pie; want it but didn’t want canned pie filling.  No sour cherries in the farm stand, no frozen ones in my grocery store.  What to do.  I decided to make a cherry berry pie with a four berry blend from the grocery store’s frozen case. I have used this blend before to make muffins and it did pretty well.  One other options is jarred sour cherries, maybe next cherry pie attempt will be with them.

If you prefer a lattice it can be made by doubling this pie crust and some careful construction work.  I tend to go the easy route of the crumb as everyone loves it. You could make a smaller 8 inch pie; use a cup less fruit and cut the sugar some, ditto for the tapioca. This pie is fantastic with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. 

This recipe is a blending of my own pie filling and the pie crust and crumb recipes from Annalise Robert’s cookbook, Gluten-Free Baking Classics.  I used a touch less sugar a a bit more fruit, and the frozen fruit blend to create my own special pie.  That cookbook is a fabulous resource and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone trying to bake gluten free for a family member.  There is nothing like the classic dessert of a pie to comfort a celiac who can’t eat what they used to.

Angie’s GF Cherry Berry Crumb Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbsp. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

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Spray 9 inch metal pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes while you ready the crumb crust and the fruit.

Filling:

6 cups fresh or frozen sweet cherry, blackberry, blueberry and raspberry mix   (two plastic 12 oz packages)

Mix the following in a small bowl and pour over the cherries:

1/3 to ½ cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp. tapioca granules

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Roll out pie crust between two sheets of wax paper or in a pie bag; try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in pie pan, centered.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.  Fill with sweetened fruit mix.  Sprinkle the crumb topping (1 to 1½ cup) evenly over this mixture.  The more crumbs the thicker the crust they will form; for a really thick crust use all the crumbs from the recipe below.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes with a piece of aluminum foil on top of the pie, then 25-30 more minutes at 375 degrees uncovered until bubbly and the crust is light brown.  If you use frozen berries like I did, don’t defrost them more than half way; make sure it is bubbling and light brown before taking it out of the oven. Cool at least 2 hours before serving at room temperature.

Note: I bake pies in my bottom heat pizza oven and it gives me a great browned crust.  If your oven isn’t bottom heat you might want to pre-bake the crust 10 minutes before filling and topping the fruit.

Crumb topping

Put all four ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form. Don’t over mix or you will get a soft dough instead of crumbs; not a good thing…done it and not happy with myself…

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Brown Rice Flour Mix  (Same as King Arthur GF blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour