Fun with PIES!

I spent the morning baking pies!!!!

Jack will never eat any because I used some coconut milk, and he HATES coconut milk... but sometimes mom and dad just want PIE! ;-)

I used Jack allergen-safe Jell-O bake and serve pudding mixes cooked with 2 parts rice milk and one part coconut milk instead of cow's milk. Make sure to read the labels, because some have "modified food starch" which is a BIG no-no. Others have just corn-starch, and luckily Jack isn't allergic to corn like many allergic toddlers are.

I made one vanilla with banana slices (we are starting to reintroduce banana into MY diet to see if he is getting less sensitive to it, but he refuses to try any himself). I'll call it "banana coconut cream pie." The other pie was with chocolate pudding mix, so I'll call that one "chocolate coconut cream pie."

My basic pie crust is as follows:

For sweet pies:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour mixture (detailed in a previous entry)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup room temp allergen-free margarine
3 Tbsp veg shortening
1/4 cup water

For savory (pot pies, meat pies, etc.):
1/8 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour mixture
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup room temp allergen-free margarine
3 Tbsp veg shortening
1/4 cup water


Mix dry ingredients and cut in margarine and shortening until in very small dough chunks. Sprinkle water over the top and mix dough together with your hands.
I just press it into pie pans and stab a few small holes in the bottom to prevent bubbling up... or roll balls and press thin and round for small cookie sheet "pies" (I made "meat pies" with sausage, potatoes, and carrots last night for dinner). However, for rolling out into sheets, just flour the pin and surface with more GF flour mixture making sure to not over-dry the dough.
Bake at 400F for 12-15 mins or until done.

Then let cool and fill as directed... OR if you are cooking with a fruit filling or a baked-in filling, just bake as directed in most other pie recipes. The 12-15 minutes still seemed to apply for my "meat pies" since the filling I made for them was pre-cooked.