Pie Crust Wheat/Gluten Free

My hubby has been mentioning that he'd love to have a cherry pie.  I'm partial to crumbles and crisps, but it sounded like a worthy adventure.  So I grabbed a recipe that is gluten free, wheat free and starchy flour free!  Little did I know what a strange trip it was going to be!

This was my first ever pie crust so I can't compare it to making regular pie crust.  All in all, I think it was pretty freakin' easy!  I'm trying to be frugal as much as possible so you know what is coming... I substituted some garbanzo bean flour in place of some almond flour.  Sorry, but I'm not paying $10 for a tiny little bag of that stuff!  I know I could have used almond meal, but since the recipe called for a flour I wanted to go with something finer and closer on my first attempt.

As I sat down to type up the recipe, in the grip of a Benadryl induced haze, I realize that I might not have followed the recipe exactly as it was written.  Whoopsie!

Ok, it looks kinda pitiful and patchworky, but it is my first one ever!  

It is so ugly it is cute, yeah... let's go with that!

Basic Pie Crust

1 cup walnuts
1 cup almond flour, divided (I used 2/3 cup garbanzo bean flour + 1/3 cup almond meal)
2/3 cup ground golden flaxseed (I used golden flaxmeal)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon water

Directions

In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until chopped.  Add 1/2 cup almond flour, the flaxseeds, baking powder, guar gum, xanthan gum, and salt.  Pulse until well blended.  Add the butter and pulse 10 times.  Add the egg, vinegar, and water, and pulse until just combined.  The dough will be wet.

Dust a work surface and your hands with some almond flour.  Place the dough on the work surface.  Knead the remaining almond flour into the dough.  Form into a disk.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Sandwich the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper that has been dusted with almond flour.  Roll out with a diameter of 10".  Peel off top paper and place a 9" pie pan upside down on top of the dough.  Turn dough onto the plate and gently peel off parchment paper.  Trim overhang and crimp edges.  Chill until ready to use.

To prebake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake for 23 minutes, or until the crust is golden and no longer moist to the touch.

In my Benadryl haze, I really think I added 2/3 cup flour to the food processor and then kneaded in the 1/3 cup later.  I really thought I was following things exactly.  Crazy what medicine can do to your mind!  Why the heck didn't I DIVIDE the flour instead of breaking it up the way I did is totally beyond me!  Perhaps I should have called this post "Trippin' with Pie Crust"????!!!!

A Taste of Fall!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins from Wheat Belly with an improvised cream cheese icing.

About 8 months or so ago, I improvised a pumpkin muffin.  It was fabulously mild when it came to the pumpkin flavor and my husband enjoyed it right along with me.  He is not a big fan of the pumpkin pie or breads, usually.  I wouldn't have called it a "sweet treat" but more like something to eat along with a fall meal.  Anyway, I've been chasing that "pumpkin dragon" for a while trying to figure out WHAT recipe I altered.  

Well, the following recipe is not the one I improvised, but it is a good recipe!  Making this recipe has brought me closer to the elusive one... I think it jared some memories.  Next time I post a pumpkin muffin recipe I hope it will be the one!

If you like things a little more sweet and not concerned with sugar, don't use sweetener!

This is a wheat and gluten free recipe.  I think it will work with Paleo diets as well.

All the dry stuff

 All the wet stuff

All mixed up.  See how they stay "scooped" in the muffin tin??  I think next time I might try these little guys out on a cookie sheet to see what happens!

 Ok the improvised icing is a bit on the thick side, but it was good!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups almond meal

1 cup chopped walnuts ( I didn't have any to spare so I skipped them)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed ( I used milled flaxseed)

SWEETENER equivalent to 3/4 cup sucrose

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg ( I subed more cinnamon )

1 teaspoon baking powder

DASH fine sea salt

1 - 15 oz. can unsweetened pumpkin puree ( I used 16 oz. )

1/2 cup sour cream or coconut milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup walnut oil, melted coconut oil, or extra light olive oil  ( I used coconut oil )

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or use liners.

Stir together the almond meal, walnuts, ground flaxseeds, sweetener, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, baking powder and sea salt in a large bowl.

Stir the pumpkin puree, sour cream, eggs, and oil in another bowl.

Stir the pumpkin mixture into the almond mix thoroughly.  Spoon batter into the muffin cups filling them half full.  Bake until toothpick comes out dry.  About 45 minutes.  Cool muffins for 10-15 mins then turn onto a rack to cool.

Bakers Log Stardate 1092013
OK... HOLD UP!!!
1. I'm here to tell you that if you fill those tins up half way you will get MORE then 12.  I used the regular sized muffin pan too and yes there was that extra ounce of pumpkin puree.  So just count on possibly getting more then 12.
2. If you fill them to the top like I did it also seemed to take FOREVER to get the inside cooked!!!  yeah, yeah... I know, I over filled them!
3. I also realized, after the fact, that with the texture of the muffin mix that you MIGHT be able to scoop out some on a baking sheet and bake that way.  Just for kicks, I may do this in the future.

IMPROVISED Cream Cheese Icing

1 bar cream cheese
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
sweetener/sugar to taste

Mix together.  This might seem a bit thick to you and if you have some whipping cream you can add a little at a time to get it to the consistency you prefer.  Enjoy!

Coconut Bread

I found a recipe for Coconut Bread that I wanted to try.  I was really hoping it would work out.  The recipe calls for Coconut FLOUR, but all I had was something labeled Coconut Powder... it isn't fine like flour and a little course with a meal-like texture.  It is a less expensive alternative.

I turned on some Jimmy Buffet music and soon I was prepping things whilst in a kitchen in Margaritaville.  I could almost taste the salt air, especially when I was opening the sea salt and it went everywhere!  It kinda added to the beachy feeling underfoot and I wont tell you where I found a few grains of salt later!

Coconut Bread

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cups ghee (or butter)
1-2 tablespoon honey, depending on taste
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup coconut flour*

Method:
Preheat your oven to 350. Whisk it all together, or blend in a food processor until all lumps are gone. Grease a bread pan with butter or coconut oil and pour your batter in. Bake for 40 minutes.

*I used coconut powder which is finely chopped coconut, but it is NOT as fine as powder!!!  

My Ingredients

Mixing things up in the food processor

Right out of the oven.  Lookin' promising!

 Even though I buttered the daylights out of this pan, it stuck!

The middle didn't cook up as well as the ends.

It was a tad eggy and VERY buttery (from my butterfest trying to keep it from sticking to the pan?).  BUT I HAD AN IDEA!!!

The next morning I warmed up a chunk, drizzled it with honey and it tasted pretty good!

I don't know if I'll make this again, we will see in time. I try to be thrifty and I'm not so sure about purchasing Coconut Flour, the coconut "powder" I buy is VERY affordable.  If I do make this again I'll do it in some whoopie pie pans or muffin tins to help cook the middle more evenly.  :-)