Review of Gluten Free Pantry Pie Crust Mix

My sister gave me a box of Gluten Free Pantry Pie Crust Mix to try.  I don't know about you, but I have found that gluten-free pie crust is quite difficult to make.  The dough is sticky and hard to handle.  This mix was no exception.  I tried rolling out the dough between layers of plastic wrap, and that helped some.  I used parchment paper for a few of the crusts, and that worked even better.  After the crust baked, there were fissures throughout it.  I was glad that I was adding pudding to sort of hold the crust together.  However, as I dished up each slice of the completed pie, the slices ended up being a pudding blob with crust attached here and there.  Hmm.

(Photo source:  google.com/products)

The good news is that despite a slight grainy texture, the crust was quite tasty.  I am thinking that the words "easy as pie" must have been coined by someone who worked in a bakery and used normal flour.  I have a pie crust recipe in my cookbook that I enjoy.  It has good flavor and is quite flaky.  Here is another recipe from my friend, Sian.  She told me that cold dough and cold fingers help when you roll out pie crust.  Good to know.  Thanks, Sian, for sharing your recipe.  :)

GF Pie Pastry

1/3 c. ice water

2 tsp. cider vinegar

2 egg yolks

1 c. rice flour

1 c. cornstarch

½ c. tapioca starch

2 tsp. xanthan gum

¼ tsp. salt

1 c. shortening

In a small bowl, combine ice water, vinegar, and egg yolks.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, sift rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum and salt.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in shortening until mixture resembles small peas.  Stirring with a fork, sprinkle egg yolk mixture, a little at a time, over the flour-shortening mixture to make soft dough.

Divide dough in half.  Gently gather dough into a ball and place each half on plastic wrap and flatten into a disk and wrap well.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Let cold pastry stand for 10 minutes at room temperature before rolling out.

Place the pastry disk between two sheets of waxed paper.  Gently roll out the pastry dough into a circle 1” larger than the diameter of the pie plate.  Remove the top sheet of waxed paper.  Invert the pastry over the pie plate, easing it in.  Carefully remove the remaining sheet of waxed paper.

Trim excess pastry to edge of pie plate and patch any cracks with trimmings.  If baking unfilled pastry shell, prick bottom and sides with fork.  Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes or until golden.  To bake filled pastry shell, do not prick.  Fill and bake according to individual recipe directions.

A Tasty Little Cookie

Do you ever miss Snickerdoodle cookies?  This cookie will help to satisfy your craving. Sometimes I feel like a chemist in the kitchen.  I experiment with the ingredients until I get the taste I desire.  I think you will find that these cookies are quite tasty.  Enjoy! 

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1⅓ cup brown rice flour

⅔ cup tapioca flour

½ cup sorghum flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ cup water

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1½ tablespoons cinnamon sugar

1. Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
2. Add rice flour, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum and water. Mix until combined.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F.
4. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon sugar. Dip spoonful of cookie dough into mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon.
5. Place ball of dough on greased cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 11 to 13 minutes.

Makes 24 cookies

Tip  For best results the amount of dough for each cookie should be slightly larger than a whole walnut. Gluten-free cookie dough spreads more than other dough. Let the cookies set for a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.