Celebrate Pi Day with a Handmade Gluten-Free Pie Recipe!

Last night over 25 people celebrated the return of spring with High Tea at the March Hearth Dinner.  At the event, we decorated cookies, traded tea through the Hearth Trading Co., and enjoyed a whole menu of items prepared by the endlessly talented Hearth Members Jaclyn Wood and Rebecca D’Antonio. The room was particularly festive thanks to the paper flowers made at our February Hearth Dinner that hung around the walls.

After stuffing our faces with gluten-free and traditional cookies last night, we woke up this morning and realized that it’s Pi Day! The gluten-free baking-frenzy continues thanks to Nina Earley, a local artist and dedicated Hearth Book Club attendee. In between her reading and painting, Nina has recently launched The Three Dishes, a blog created by three people with diverse dietary limitations and food preferences who share a love for cooking, baking and bringing family and friends together over good meals.

For Pi Day, Nina sent us the following recipe for you to try out.  Make sure to send us some pictures if you do! If you need some communal support for your cooking efforts, come out to the April Hearth Dinner where #WhatIMake Conference Speaker, Cameron Gray will be running a Vegan Cooking Workshop!

Nina’s Gluten-Free Bourbon-Pecan Pie!

Crust:

Adapted from makeit-loveit.com
This recipe makes two pie crusts, or enough for one covered pie.

2 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free One-To-One Baking Flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 dash sugar
1/2 cup vegan butter (soy free)
1/2 cup vegan shortening
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer, whisked with 2 Tbsp warm water until frothy
1 Tbsp vinegar (I use Apple Cider Vinegar)
4 Tbsp ice water

1. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.
2. Cut vegan butter and shortening into dry ingredients with a fork (or a pastry cutter, if you own one). The dough should look crumbly at this point.
3. Mix egg replacer, vinegar and water together in a small bowl, then add them to the large bowl all at once and mix well. At this point the dough should start to come together and look quite smooth.
4. Separate dough in half and roll out until it’s roundish and about 1 1/2 inches larger than you pie plate. Flip the dough into the pie plate and roll excess under until it fits the pan. If you’re not making a covered pie you can use this extra thick edge to make a pattern.
5. Use a fork to poke hole sin bottom of crust before you add the filling. (See below)

* If you need to freeze half of this dough, roll it into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and then store in a ziplock bag for up to a few months. It works better fresh, but will still work once frozen and thawed, because:
** The egg replacer performs at its best immediately after mixing, which is why I don’t refrigerate the dough before baking. If you don’t have an egg allergy, feel free to use 1 egg in the dough, beaten before you mix it with the vinegar and water. This will make the dough easier to freeze.

Bourbon-Pecan Tart filling:
Adapted from Bon Appetite Magazine, November 2009

3 large eggs // or 4.5 tsp egg replacer mixed with 6 Tbsp warm water
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil
2 Tbsp bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

2 cups pecan halves or pieces (Trader Joe’s has good prices)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1. Beat eggs and sugar in medium bowl. If using egg replacer, beat powdered egg replacer with water first until frothy, then add sugar and continue beating until mixed well.
2. Add maple syrup and beat together.
3. Add butter or coconut oil, bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, beat until mixed well.
4. Stir in pecans.
5. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust.
6. Decorate with Pecan halves.
7. Bake until filling is set, about 30-45 minutes.

*I’ve found that gluten free crusts tend to be a bit crumblier than regular crusts, therefore I don’t pre-bake mine. It will take a bit longer to bake, but at a slightly lover temperature than other pies this should work just fine.

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Need more PInspiration?! Check out the beautiful efforts of three of the Hearth Members. Between Robin Miller, Jaclyn Wood, and Rebecca D’Antonio we’ve got a pie for every occasion.