Nutty Crust Peach Pie (Gluten Free)

Summer fruit rocks. Not too long ago I brought home 4 pounds of delicious peaches from the Farmers Market, and I decided to make a pie with them using the same gluten-free pie crust recipe that I usually put blueberries in. It's from the Whole Foods website: All Nut Crumb Crust. Only this time I used half almonds and half pecans because I was running low on almonds. It tasted awesome, with the pecans complementing the peaches nicely, even though I totally burned the edges.

I tried to make the filling recipe as healthy as possible by subbing maple syrup for the sugar and reducing the amount. I probably could have omitted the sweetener altogether. Seriously, these peaches were more than sweet enough. I also reduced the amount of corn starch, but that maybe wasn't such a great idea. These peaches were really juicy, and the filling liquid didn't thicken much. I actually had to strain some of it off, but that worked out fine as I then used it to flavor my plain yogurt.

Filling:
4 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced (Do yourself a favor and blanche them for 20 seconds first. It makes them SO much easier to peel!)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 TBSP cornstarch (original recipe called for 3 TBSP, but 2 might do the trick)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

All you do is toss the sliced peaches with the rest of the ingredients and stir gently over medium heat until the peaches are cooked and the liquid thickened. Mine didn't really thicken much, but that's what I get for skimping on the cornstarch.

  

I let the filling cool before pouring it in the prebaked pie shell. Alternatively, you could combine the peaches and other ingredients and, instead of cooking on the stove, put the filling in an unbaked pie shell and bake everything at the same time in the oven. But, I was worried about this nut crust going all soggy, which it did after a day or so of assembly, so this isn't one to make ahead of time.

 

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Gluten Free Banana Ganache Tart With Peanut Butter Cookie Crust

Whew, that's a mouthful, isn't it? You guys remember the peanut butter cookie recipe I posted not too long ago? Well, what I didn't tell you then was that I only baked half the recipe as cookies. The rest I baked in a 8-inch loose-bottomed tart pan, thinking it might make a good crust for the right pie.

All I did was press the cookie dough thinly, yet evenly into the base of a loose-bottom tart pan. If I had enough dough, I would have gone up the sides, but I barely had enough to cover the bottom. I baked it for around 10 minutes. Since the dough was thinner than the cookies I kept my eye on it so it wouldn't burn. It came out of the oven looking fine and smelling awesome.

As I searched the internet looking for a filling, thinking that gluten-free banana cream might be nice on a peanut butter cookie crust, but really wanting to dump a bunch of chocolate all over it, I stumbled upon a recipe for Banana Ganache on the Kitchen Unplugged blog. Only she calls it "Choco-ban-nache" which is a name I love, but won't steal. Her recipe was more traditional, with heavy cream and corn syrup, so I put in my usual substitutions.

Banana Ganche pie filling:

8 ounces chocolate (I had 60% chips in my pantry, so that's what I grabbed.)
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 very ripe bananas, pureed
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I may omit this next time, as the ganache is really sweet.)

Heat coconut milk and maple syrup over medium heat until almost boiling.

Pour over chocolate and stir until thoroughly melted.

It will go all smooth and shiny. Stir in the pureed bananas.

Allow to cool, then chill in refrigerator until a pudding-like consistency. Pour into baked pie crust then return to refrigerator and chill until set.

Slide the bottom of the pan up and out of its ring, there's a pie. Tart. Banana ganache covered giant cookie thingy, whatever.

That's honestly all there is to it, folks. It tastes a lot like my chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, but considering it's essentially the same ingredients in slightly different proportions and arranged differently, I guess that's no shock.

Now, this isn't one to make ahead of time if you want a nice crunchy crust, because it will go soft and cake-like after a day or so. It's still yummy, just more of a brownie-type texture. The banana ganache stays smooth and pudding-like. Feel free to serve with a dollop of... something. I vote for vanilla coconut milk ice cream, but I put that stuff on nearly everything.

Blueberry Picking Time

Probably one of my favorite things to do in summer is to get fresh local berries. This morning we went to the pick-your-own blueberry farm and brought home just over 6 pounds of yummy summer goodness. Want to see our bounty?

Actually, that's only about half of our haul. I had to use two colanders to wash them all. So then I just needed to decide what to do with all those berries, while enjoying some as a snack, of course. I really wanted to try a gluten-free almond pie crust recipe I stumbled across several months ago, and the blueberry farm gave me a recipe for "Double Good Blueberry Pie" so I used that recipe for the filling.

All nut crumb crust (from my Whole Foods Recipe iPhone app):

2 1/4 cups finely ground blanched almonds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup melted butter

2 TBSP pure maple syrup

All you do is mix everything together well and then press into a 9-inch pie plate. 

This pie required a pre-baked shell, so I baked it at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I don't know exactly how long because I forgot to set the oven timer when I first put the pie in, but it was more than 15 and less than 20. Once the shell is cool, then add the pie filling.

For the filling:

1/2 cup sugar (the recipe called for 3/4 cup, but these berries are plump and sweet)

3 TBSP cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

4 cups blueberries (1 1/2 pounds), divided

1/4 cup water

1 TBSP butter

1 TBSP lemon juice

Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in saucepan. Add water and 2 cups of the blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and butter. Set aside to cool.

To assemble pie, Place remaining 2 cups of berries in cooled pie shell. 

Top with cooled cooked berries. Chill. Eat and rejoice!

Oh, and I also made some gluten-free blueberry mini muffins, but I'm not at all happy with how those came out. That recipe is going to need a bit more work, or perhaps I should just look for a better one.

Don't worry, I have plans for raw, or at least slightly more healthy, blueberry treats to share!

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