Gluten Free Pie Crust In Your Vitamix!

In an effort to make my mom proud earlier this week, I set to work on mastering a gluten free pie crust so that when she comes to visit later this year, I can have one waiting for her.

You want to know a secret? I have never baked a pie in my life. Why would I bake pies when I could simply have my mom do it? She’s the best pie maker in all of the pie makers so yeah…my motivation was 0. But, pie season is quickly approaching and I’m always up for a challenge…so here we go!

I’m just going to throw these few things out there: do not attempt this crust if you are hungry or impatient. Also, having a good food processor or Vitamix will go a long way. I would not attempt this by hand or you’re going to have some severely overworked hands (and want to kill me for inspiring you to make a gluten free pie crust when Pillsbury makes a canned kind…)

 You Will Need:
1 1/4 cup flour (I use Cup4Cup!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup COLD butter, sliced into pads
1/4 cup ice water

**it’s important to note that baking is one of those things where the proof is in the details. If it says cold, make it cold. It DOES make a difference.**

1. Combine your flour and salt.
2. Put this mix into your food processor and begin to cut the butter in slowly.
3. Remove from food processor or Vitamix and dump into a bowl.
4. Stir in the water one tablespoon at a time.

Okay, so here is where things got tricky for me, I was cutting and mixing and CRAP! This dough is still not coming together. So I rolled up my sleeves and began kneading it. Bad idea. The dough got more flaky and harder to work with. I took the bowl and refrigerated it for an hour. This made all the difference. As I was working with the ingredients, they became room temperature–not good! The dough needs to stay cold.

Once I removed it from the refrigerator I rolled it out and spread it into my pie pan. Being a pie virigin, I had no idea you need to double recipes if you want those cute little lattice things on the top of the pie. Well, of course I do! But I WAS NOT mixing up more of this with all that cutting, processing business, so I used what little extra I had, which is why you see strips going only in one direction.

I chose to fill mine with apples and cinnamon for a delicious apple pie, but you can make whatever kind of pie you like once you have the crust!

Once you fill your pie, bake for around 35 minutes at 425 degrees. My pie started to burn (like I said, pie virgin here), so I’m unsure of my exact timing.

I have to admit, the end result was amazing! So was the look on Dane’s face when I told him I baked an apple pie. The man is a pie-lover and, bless his heart, I have never once even purchased one at the store for him. Thankfully all of this has quickly and easily been rectified now that I know I can bake them 🙂