Apple Pie - Oh My!

Beautiful blueberry barrens on the way to get the apples

The call of apple pie has become overwhelming! I finally succumbed and made my way over to the nearby apple orchard to pick up some delicious Cortland apples. 

I try to stay gluten free and have been doing so for a couple years now. I don't like to think of it as a fad (who does?) but more of a proactive stance against the chronic diseases that seem to run a bit in my family. I myself have IBS and a few other issues so I do my darnedest to try to deal with them from a nutritional stand. To follow and eat paleo generally means you are eating natural and unprocessed foods plus staying grain free to try to avoid irritating that super important gut. Hence I do a lot of cooking and surfing for recipes.

I was looking through the gluten free crusts online but didn't see one that looked quite right. Most called for coconut flour which I despise and were so complicated that they didn't seem fun to me. A while back I had posted my own crust which has worked fairly well for me for both sweet and savory pies. I have re posted that here with a few tweaks to make it better.

This pie crust is flaky and close to a regular flour crust (though nothing like my mom's or grandmothers flour versions --they happen to have been the BEST Crust Makers EVER!). Be patient with the rolling aspect, it can be tricky. Use LOTS of arrowroot flour on the parchment and on top of the dough.

Just out of the oven apple pie with a gluten free crust. Would have 

been even better if I hadn't forgotten to brush with egg whites and 

sprinkle sugar on top before baking--next time! :)

Crust Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c almond flour
• 1/2 c tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 c oz arrowroot powder + extra for rolling the crust
• 1 tsp Xanthen gum (may or may not use-helps a bit when replacing gluten)
• 1/2 c coconut flakes (unsweetened)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c + 2 Tbsp butter, very cold, in pieces
• 1 large egg
• 4-6 Tbsp cold water
• 1 heaping tbsp honey

Pretty Close to Flaky GF Paleo Pie Crust Directions

1. Measure and mix flours and salt in the bowl of your food processor.
2. Add the butter pieces to bowl. Process until crumbly.
3. Mix egg, honey and 2 tbsp. cold water in a small bowl.
4. Pour egg and water mixture over flour mixture and process until the dough comes together. Wrap and chill for at least an hour.
5. Divide the dough and roll each portion between two sheets of parchment paper. Dust booth sides with arrowroot powder and liberally dust the parchment paper.  It is possible to roll this crust  but you need the extra arrowroot powder. If the crust comes apart during the transfer to the pie pan simply patch it gently together. You can alternately press the bottom crust into the pie plate if you wish, instead of rolling.
6. Place bottom crust in pie pan. Trim edges. Fill your pie and then top with the second crust folding the top crust edge under the bottom and flute if desired. Vent by cutting slits in the top crust. Optional: brush with egg whites and sprinkle coconut sugar on top.
7. Bake as needed per filling used. Note: Mid way through baking I covered the crust lightly with foil that had a circle cut from the middle to protect the edges.
   I baked my apple pie for 40 mins