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| My first crocus of Spring 2011! |
I have been working hard at developing a cherry pie with a pie crust that will please everyone, and that does not contain corn. This has been a challenge. I tried two pies, some tarts, and little cherry cheesecakes in the process. (The little cheesecakes were good! Will post them soon....)
This is what I ended up with. Very good!
GF & Corn Free Cherry Pie
For the crust:
Turn on your oven to 400.
Take 1 1/2 cups of gluten free baking mix (I used Pamela's), and
6 Tbs of butter.
(I happened to use 4 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs of Earth Balance Margarine...total of 6 Tbs.)
Use a pastry blender to get the butter into little crumbs distributed throughout the mixture.
Add about 1/4 cup (4 Tbs) cold water.
Mix it into a ball.
Grease a 9-inch pie pan.
(I used regular cooking spray. Don't use the "baker's" type of spray if you want to be gluten free!)
Press 2/3 of your dough into the pan to make a crust.
Use wet fingers!
Bake 8 minutes.
Press the other 1/3 of the crust onto a plate.
Cut it into tiny squares to use later.
Make your filling:
Combine in a 2-qt. saucepan:
2 14.5-oz. cans tart cherries,
1 cup of sugar, and
1/4 cup of quick tapioca, slightly rounded.
Cook and stir occasionally, bringing the mixture to a full boil.
Turn off your heat.
Add 1 tsp. almond extract.
Pour your hot mixture into the hot pie crust.
I had too much filling, so I put some into a smaller ovenproof container to bake alongside the pie.
Top the pie with the little pie crust bits, arranging them artistically.
You can sprinkle it with a little sugar at this point. (I didn't.)
I kept the oven at 400, but next time I think I should turn it down at this point to 375.
Put your pie on a cookie sheet or special sheet to cook pies on.
If this spills over, you don't want all the smoke detectors in your house to start blaring!
Bake about 20 min., or until it's browned and bubbly.
Let cool.
