Tag Archives: gluten-free pie crust

Strawberry pie…as sweet as can be!

Posted in Desserts by

Monica says:

Oh how we love strawberry season! It’s time to pick the juiciest berries that we can find!

Do you think we did just that?

Our sweet girl, Emily, and my sister Maria (her granny), and I went to a little farm to find the best berries we could. This time we were smart and each wore disposable gloves….boy, they made all the difference!

Highly recommend this move!

Anyway, after about an hour, we had filled our vessels to capacity….here was my personal stash!

When we got home, I researched the best way to keep these beauties fresh and long lasting. Well, I found advice from a blog, Momables and I can say it was the best advice ever!

Following her instructions below, even today, after 8 days, my strawberries are still fresh and plump like they were just picked!

Washing Fresh Strawberries

  • 8 cups water
  • 2 cups white vinegar
  • Drop dish detergent
  1. Place above in salad spinner
  2. Clean strawberries in batches if too many
  3. Swish them around in liquid and then rinse
  4. Place on towel lined cookie sheets to dry
  5. Store them in sealed container lined with paper towels when completely dry
  6. Leave a smidge open on container so they don’t get too much moisture!

NOTE: I used 9 x 13 glass dishes with paper towels and only covered top layer with paper toweling; stayed perfect! And depending on the amount of strawberries you pick, you may have to do this several times.

I also decided to make my own strawberry filling for the pies since I wanted to eliminate some of the sugar content, so I followed this recipe!

Fresh Strawberry Filling

Note: This recipe is for ONE pie

  • 1 quart fresh, organic strawberries
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 ½ tablespoon  cornstarch

To make the filling:

  1. In a sauce pan, put 1 cup sliced berries, ½ cup sugar, salt, and ¼ cup water. Bring to boil.
  2. Cook 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
  3. Mix cornstarch and remaining water. Add to sauce pan.
  4.  Return to heat. Stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.
  5. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile my official pie crust maker and our biggest gluten free lifestyle supporter, my hubby, began to make the crust. We decided to try a gluten free blend and chose King Arthur’s Measure for Measure blend with my mother’s pie crust recipe!

Mom’s Water Whip Pie Crust

Note: This recipe makes 2 crusts (either a top and bottom, or two bottoms)

  • ¾ cup shortening
  • ¼ cup boiling water
  • 2 ¼ cups gluten free flour (a blend of your own or any commercial blend)
  • 1 T milk (Lactaid if needed)
  • 1 tsp salt

Whip shortening and water with a fork until smooth and creamy. Add milk, flour and salt. Work into a nice dough ball.

 

Perfection!

Since you have to bake these pastry shells without filling, I cut a round of parchment

for each and filled with uncooked rice.

Baked the crusts at 375 degrees for 20 minutes and then took them out of the oven, removed the rice with parchment, and then pricked small tine marks with a fork in the bottom of the crusts.

Then I placed the crusts back in the oven for 20 minutes.

Look at these babies!

While letting everything cool (filling and crusts), I removed the stems from the strawberries.

And now the best part…..filling them up with the sweet strawberries!

Once I liked the arrangement, I began pouring the filling over the strawberries. It was so thick and lovely!

Daria told me that I could have taken the filling and placed the strawberries in it to get better coverage,

but honestly, that didn’t occur to me.

That’s why she’s a pastry chef, and I’m not!!

Anyway, here is picture of our completed strawberry pies!

And the “pie maker” and “official gluten free taste tester” finally gets to dig in!

Y*U*M!

Wishing you fun picking strawberries…

…but most of all, eating strawberry pie!

Enjoy!

 

© 2017, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk

 

 

 

 

It’s National Quiche Lorraine Day!

Posted in Dinner by

Oh thank you, French cuisine, for this versatile little dish (even though it originated in Germany)!

It seems that quiche gets a bad rap in mass media and I have no idea why. If it’s made correctly, the simple quiche stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest cheese entrées. All you need is a good quiche and a good salad and viola…..dinner is done!

The best thing about quiche is its versatility! You can make it traditionally with sausage or bacon, or go all veggie (broccoli), or my favorite – crab quiche. It also can be made with or without a crust. For gluten-free eaters, not having to worry about making a crust, helps elevate its status considerably. Either way, crust or crustless, you have yourself a tasty meal!

Since my hubby loves to help in the kitchen (lucky person, I know), this quiche was made with a crust. The crust recipe is an old family favorite that he de-glutenized! It’s my Mom’s water whip pie crust and it never seems to fail….now the gluten-free variation is not easy to roll out, so he takes portions of it and makes flat pieces with his hands and pats it into the pie plate. Any way that works for you is fine….trial and error, my friends!

I almost always make my quiche without a crust because it’s quicker and does not flare my arthritis as much. I’ve also experimented with making individual baby quiches by using a mega muffin tin and this recipe yielded 8 and they baked for about 35 minutes. Again, whatever works for you!

DSC03906

Recipe for Quiche Lorraine (or variation)

4 eggs

1 ½ cups evaporated milk

1 T gluten-free all-purpose flour

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 medium onion, cut in eighths

1 ½ cups Swiss Cheese, cubed

1 pound pork sausage, crisply fried and crumbled OR ¾ pound sliced bacon, crisply fried and crumbled OR filling of choice (broccoli, veggie medley, fresh crabmeat)

I  9” unbaked pie shell (optional if you are making a crustless quiche)

Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a blender or Cuisinart put eggs, evaporated milk, flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cover and process until well blended. Stop and add onion pieces and cubed Swiss cheese. Cover and process on Grind for 3 cycles.

Sprinkle your filling of choice in the bottom of unbaked shell or bare 9” pie plate (if you do not want to bake with a crust.) Pour egg mixture over filling. Sprinkle some nutmeg on top.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

DSC03910

Mom’s Water Whip Pie Crust

¾ cup shortening

¼ cup boiling water

2 ¼ cups flour (GF version: can use all-purpose GF flour, or 2 cups all-purpose GF flour & ¼ soy flour*)

1 T milk (Lactaid if needed)

1 tsp salt

Whip shortening and water with a fork until smooth and creamy. Add milk, flour and salt. Work into a nice dough ball.

*soy flour gives it a darker hue with a hint of a nutty flavor

 

© 2014, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk   whisks

 

The absolute best thing about Lewie’s making the pie crust is his making “lumpy cookies!”

DSC03912

If our girls were “helping” us bake when they were little and if we had some leftover dough, we would always fashion it into several cookies, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon before baking them on a separate cookie sheet (and still do to this day).

My mom had started this tradition many years ago, when my three sisters and I were little girls.

The name “lumpy cookies” started with my sisters’ children and it has been passed on with the greatest fondness. Every one of the nieces and nephews know about “lumpy cookies”….they’re the best!

So the best advice when making quiche, go for the crust….because you’ll want “lumpy cookies” too!

Happy baking!

© 2014, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk