pie

Apple Crumb Pie

Apples, a favorite American fruit and they are the main ingredient in America’s favorite pie.   This crumb topped pie is easier than a two crust pie. I gave you the amounts for a 9-inch pie; I myself generally make it 10 inch; use 10 cups sliced apples and higher end of amounts of sugar, tapioca and spices.  Bake 60 minutes.

I put this pie together in a few steps; make the crust dough; put it in fridge to chill while I peel, slice and cut up the apples. I also throw together the crumbs before rolling out the pie; you don’t need to rinse the mixer bowl from the crust then.  If you plan to prebake your crust those ten minutes of baking the empty pie crust are also a good time for making the crumbs and preparing the apples too!  Each step is fairly easy but the results are spectacular.  Of course, you could buy a readymade unbaked crust but this crust I use is really tasty: my mom never believed it was gluten free!  This disbelief of hers was proof of the great flavor and texture of this particular basic gf pie crust.unbaked-apple-crumb-pie

It goes without saying that this pie is great with a slice of vanilla ice cream.  Winter is still a good time for an apple pie but by spring the apples are iffy, and I stop baking pies with them.  Be seasonal whenever possible when it comes to fruits, and you will get the best flavor and taste in your fruit-based desserts.

Apple Crumb Pie

Crust:

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

2 Tbsp. sweet rice flour

1 Tbsp. 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

Directions: Spray a nine-inch pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour. Set aside.

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.

Roll out the flattened ball into a pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in the pie pan, be sure to center it.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.

Filling:

8 cups thin apple slices from 8-9 medium-large sized apples, I like a mixture of yellow delicious and at least one other cooking variety; red Rome, Jonathan, empire, Courtland, or any tart apple you like to bake with. Note: I have made it just with Cortland or with Golden Delicious apples; excellent pies!

Peel apples, quarter, cut out core, slice into 1/3 inch thick slices. Mix in a large bowl with:

¼ cup brown sugar

3-5 Tbsp. granulated sugar (3= tart, 5 if you like it sweet)

2 Tbsp. minute tapioca

1 tsp. cinnamon

A good sprinkle of ground nutmeg

A small sprinkle of ground ginger

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Heap in pie crust.

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.

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Finishing directions: Sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix; use as much as you like.  I like about 2/3 of the mixture.  Up to your personal taste…  Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 55-60 minutes until bubbly and the crust is light brown.  You can cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil for the first 30 minutes.  I bake my pies at the lowest possible level shelf, so my crust gets crisp but if you have issues with soggy bottom crusts; prebake your crust for 10 minutes; then fill and bake immediately.

Cool the pie at least 3 to 4 hours before serving at room temperature.

Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

The crust and crumbs are from Annalise Roberts’ great cookbook: Gluten-Free Baking Classics. My filling is slightly different.

Originally posted February 2015.

Blueberry Rhubarb Custard Pie

Surprisingly blueberries and rhubarb really do go together so well. Blueberries are uncooked: with milk or cream or baked in a cobbler or a fruity crisp. Rhubarb is called the pie plant for good reason; it makes a lovely pie from a humble plant stem. But this, this is my current obsession, the two together in a custard pie. Not just any old custard but one made with Greek yogurt and eggs. Easy to throw together, creamy, never runny textured and a lusciously fruity flavor that may make you have to eat a second slice! The blueberries do tend to take over the rhubarb flavor of this pie. Of course, there are more than twice as many blueberries by volume and they are just a stronger flavor than rhubarb which gives a bit of a tart under taste to this pie. You could play with the proportions of the two fruits; this is the amounts which I used. This pie will be tasty to even the biggest rhubarb dissenter. Really!

WARNING: This pie goes soft in 2 humid days so plan to gobble it down within that time frame or face the soggy crust syndrome. Inevitable with gf crust and a custard filling in hot/humid weather.

I don’t recommend frozen or canned fruit for this pie, simply not good enough and you must use plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt in the filling, plain yogurt is too runny. And no, it can’t be made without the eggs it just wouldn’t work as a custard if there are no eggs. The version with peaches uses 3 yolks in there. I tried it with two whole eggs beaten up: success! And one last warning; applicable to 100 percent of my recipes: Please don’t try it with Measure for Measure gf flour; this is calibrated for using King Arthur’s Basic GF Blend.

I hope you give it a try; super easy and super delicious. Best pie of the summer hands down! Make one Saturday morning…we couldn’t wait for a slice still faintly warm……. I thought I took a picture of a slice; no luck there and it is all gone. Next time! It does look pretty much like the blueberry peach custard pie I posted last summer.

Naked pie! About to go in and bake for 25 minutes and then the crumbs go on top.
Just out of the oven….cooling…a molten mass of fruit and custard and sugary crumbs!

Angie’s Blueberry and Rhubarb Custard 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 Tbps cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 large egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Spray 9 or 10 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 prepare the filling.

Filling:

2-3 cups sliced fresh rhubarb cut in half inch slices (2 cups if 9 inch pie, 3 cups for 10 inch pie)

4 cups blueberries; rinsed

2/3 cup sugar, sweeter if you like it that way or if peaches are not fully ripe

2 Tbsp. tapioca starch

Mix in a medium bowl the following ingredients:

1 cup plain Greek yogurt, I prefer whole milk, and let it warm up a bit

2 whole large eggs or 3 egg yolks, close to room temp.

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp. brown rice mixture flour (King Arthur Basic GF blend)

Crumb topping

¾ c brown rice flour mix (King Arthur Basic GF Blend)

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Put all five ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Directions: Turn oven on to 400 degrees. Put the oven rack on the closest to the bottom shelf position. Once the crust is chilled some but not hard, Roll it out and fit into the pie shell. Trim off excess crust. I like to chill those crumbs of crust and roll out to make a jam filled hand pie. Anyway, put the sliced rhubarb and blueberries in a bowl and add the sugar and tapioca. Let stand 5 minutes. Then pour into the pie shell in a fairly even layer, as the filling and crumbs will hide it there is no need for a pretty design. Then pour the filling that you just mixed up over it , tap the pie on the counter sharply 2-3 times to settle in the filling and bake for 25-30 minutes. I turned down my oven to 375 after 15 to 20 minutes. While it bakes those 25-30 minutes make the crumbs. When your timer goes off, carefully remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix;  I used about 3/4 of it but you could use a bit less if you don’t want a thick crumb layer or all of it for a really heavy crumb. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until crumbs are lightly browned. Let stand at least 1 to 11/2 hours before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Crumb Pie – Long Name – Yummy Pie

This is a variation on my favorite rhubarb custard pie which is my go-to recipe for a great spring dessert. I added strawberries to please my guy who isn’t a huge rhubarb fan. The strawberries add their special flavor and he really enjoyed this pie this past weekend. So did I! Our new favorite pie…

This is an easy pie even though it has several steps.  It is different from the usual rhubarb pie because the texture is a bit closer to a crumb cake, no wet (aka slimy texture) and no ultra-sour flavor.  I think this new strawberried version is great for those who doubt the power of rhubarb!  This GF crust will work for any pie with a traditional dough and the GF crumb topping is a great choice for any crumb pie topper.  This is my mixture of three recipes with some modifications which come together to create one of my favorite GF pie recipes.  I know it has several steps but each one is easy and you can use these crust and crumb techniques for other pies.

I like it because it has a great texture and the flavor is complex but subtly rhubarby.  It isn’t really soft or all that custardy (if I didn’t say the word custard you would never know) but has a more cake-like texture. It is a game changer of a pie. I promise you that!

Fruit in the unbaked pie shell.

Angie’s GF Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 1 tbsp brown rice flour mix (recipe for blend at bottom of pie recipe)

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbsp. 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

——————

Spray a 9 inch metal pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour. I must confess I forget this step a lot of the time and it doesn’t seem to matter much….

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice. Do not leave out the juice; it is critical to the crust texture and structure!  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape the sticky mess 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 chop the rhubarb into ½ inch chunks.

This pie is ready to bake!

My sister Karen bought me one of those pie crust plastic bag thingies; has a zipper around the edge.  By OXO: I love it; it works better than wax paper which can get soft and tear as you roll out the crust.  King Arthur Flour sells an inexpensive one on line. I highly recommend you get the OXO version for making scratch pie crust.  Or maybe improvise with a sheet of heavy duty plastic! Strong enough to work with the rolling pin and better than wax paper.pie crust bag

Filling:

4-5 cups cut up fresh rhubarb – place in medium bowl

1 1/2-2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Mix with dry mix made of

2/3 – 1 c sugar (depends on how sweet you like your pie) I go with 2/3 cup

¼ c brown rice flour mix (see below recipe)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Sprinkle cinnamon

Roll out pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, 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 dry rhubarb mix.  Pour the following wet mix evenly over this mixture:

Liquid mix: 3 large eggs beaten lightly with 1/3 c milk (not skim), and ¼ tsp almond extract.

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.

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Sprinkle the top of the pie with the crumb mix; use as much as you like.  I like about 2/3 of the mixture.  Up to your personal taste… It sinks into the rhubarb and wet mixture to create an almost cake like texture and the crumb crust adds lots of sweetness and eye appeal.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 55-60 minutes until bubbly and the crust is light brown.  Cool at least 3 to 4 hours before serving at room temperature.

The pie is just out of the oven, hot and smells wonderful!

Brown Rice Flour Mix (same as King Arthur’s Basic GF Blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Afternoon snack; still faintly warm. Delicious!

Peach Blueberry Custard Pie

Peaches and blueberries really do go together so swell. Tasty sliced and uncooked: with milk or cream or baked in a cobbler or a fruity crisp. But this, this is my latest obsession; in a custard pie. Not just any old custard but one made with Greek yogurt and egg yolks. Easy to throw together, creamy, never runny textured and a lusciously fruity flavor that may make you have to eat a second slice! The blueberries do tend to takeover the peach flavor of this pie even though there are more than twice as much peaches by volume, they are just a stronger flavor than peaches. You could play with the proportions of the two fruits; this is the amounts which I used. WARNING: This pie goes soft in 2 humid days so plan to gobble it down within that time frame for face the soggy crust syndrome. Inevitable with gf crust and a custard filling in hot/humid weather.

I don’t recommend frozen or canned fruit for this pie, simply not good enough and you must use plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt in the filling, plain yogurt is too runny. And no, it can’t be made without the egg yolks; it just wouldn’t work as a custard if there are no yolks in there. And one last warning; applicable to 99 percent of my recipes: Please don’t try it with Measure for Measure gf flour; this is calibrated for using King Arthur’s Basic GF Blend.

I hope you give it a try; super easy and super delicious. Best pie of the summer hands down! Making one in the morning…can’t wait for a slice still faintly warm…….

Just baked…hot from my oven. Deceptively plain looking…beneath those golden crumbs likes a intoxicating blend of fresh fruit and custard.

Angie’s Peach and Blueberry Custard 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 Tbps cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 large egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

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 prepare the filling.

Filling:

2 1/2-3 cups sliced fresh peaches, peeled and cut in half inch slices

1 1/4 cup blueberries; rinsed

Mix in a medium bowl the following ingredients:

1 cup plain Greek yogurt, I prefer whole milk, and let it warm up a bit

2/3 cup sugar, sweeter if you like it that way or if peaches are not fully ripe

3 egg yolks, close to room temp.

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup brown rice mixture flour (King Arthur Basic GF blend)

Crumb topping

¾ c brown rice flour mix (King Arthur Basic GF Blend)

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Put all five ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Directions: Turn oven on to 400 degrees. Put the oven rack on the closest to the bottom shelf position. Once the crust is chilled some but not hard, Roll it out and fit into the pie shell. Trim off excess crust. I like to chill those crumbs of crust and roll out to make a jam filled hand pie. Anyway, put the sliced peaches and blueberries in the pie shell in a fairly even layer, as the filling and crumbs will hide it there is no need for a pretty design. Then pour the filling over it and bake for 30 minutes. I turned down my oven to 375 after 20 minutes. While it bakes those 30 minutes make the crumbs. Carefully remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix;  I used about half of it but you could use a bit less if you don’t want a thick crumb layer or all of it for a really heavy crumb. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until crumbs are lightly browned. Let stand at least 1 to 11/2 hours before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Peach Custard Pie with Cinnamon Crumble Crust

Hey, it is STILL peach season!! But not for long and those last peaches tend to be less than the best…so get baking now! This recipe is a translation of a pie made with all purpose flour that I saw somewhere, an adaptation of a Good Housekeeping recipe to make it gluten free and with cinnamon crumbs. I used my favorite gf crust and the crumbs I use: with the addition of cinnamon in the crumbs. I don’t know why I never added cinnamon before; it was inspired I guess by this recipe. We enjoyed it yesterday afternoon, still warm from the oven. I actually like it even better today after 24 hours. It is so very peaches and cream! Just a lovely classic combination. Years ago I made a peach cheese tart which was delish but has less peaches and that is made with cream cheese. This creamy filling is a simple mixture of plain Greek yogurt, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla which is healthish by the nature of the yogurt. I froze the egg whites for angel food cake this fall. The construction is very easy; no fancy decorating. Just a treat to eat, no need for ice cream; the cream is in there!

Notes: I used a lot of crumbs; you can cut back to half that recipe of crumbs if you like. I suppose you could use canned peaches but I wouldn’t unless it was the dead of winter…. I doesn’t look like much when you put it in the oven to do the first bake but man, it sure does get pretty with the crumbs on top. Nectarines would be n ice; no peeling required. Enjoy!

Peach pie, no crumbs, before first baking
Hot out of oven, just starting to put crumbs on.
All crumbed up and ready to bake.
Wow; that’s a lot of crumbs; we love it that way but you could use far less if you wanted; even just a cup of crumbs…

Angie’s Peach Custard 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 Tbps cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 large egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

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 prepare the filling.

Filling:

3 1/2 cups sliced fresh peaches, peeled and cut in half inch slices

Mix in a medium bowl the following ingredients:

1 cup plain Greek yogurt, I prefer whole milk, and let it warm up a bit first

2/3 -3/4 cup sugar, sweeter if you like it that way or if peaches are not fully ripe

3 egg yolks, room temp.

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup brown rice mixture flour

Crumb topping

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Put all five ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Directions: Turn oven on to 425 degrees. Put the oven rack on the bottom shelf position. Once the crust is chilled some but not hard, Roll it out and fit into the pie shell. Trim off excess crust. I like to chill those crumbs of crust and roll out to make a jam filled hand pie. Anyway, put the sliced peaches in the pie shell in a fairly even layer, as the filling and crumbs will hide it there is no need for a pretty design. Then pour the filling over it and bake for 30 minutes. I turned down my oven to 375 after 20 minutes. I am considering lowering the temp to start at to 400 degrees; my crust edges got too browned for my liking. While it bakes those 30 minutes make the crumbs. Carefully remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix;  I used all of it but you could use a bit less if you don’t want a thick crumb layer. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until crumbs are browned. Let stand at least 1 to 11/2 hours before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Thickly crumbed, still warm and lush with fresh peach flavor and that creamy filling all around and in every bite!