I am going to dedicate this post to my mom. She helped me pull together the recipes for this month’s rally while I am supposed to be on bed rest. And this month you will really see where I get my baking sense from.
Oh, you read that part where I am on bed rest? I had surgery last Thursday and it was a little rockier than we had anticipated. I am waiting for electric leads to scar into place in my spine and because they were placed with no wiggle room, I have to stay put so that everything stays where it was placed. The good news is that the surgery was successful, and when you are reading this, I will be at the doctor’s office for my post-op appointment. And hopefully talking my sister into some Pei Wei.
Now, back to the pie.
I have baked this crust before for Gluten-Free Girl’s summer Pie Party. And I love it. It is light, flaky and delicious.
You can bake pie crust from scratch. Really, you can. It is not scary, and you never need to buy frozen pie crust again. Just make a double recipe of crust and freeze the spare. If you have a food processor, this takes about 10 minutes and once you make it a couple of times, you will never need a pre-made crust again.
The entire rally this month is full of proof.
The crust is great. The ratio is so basic, I will never forget it. 3-2-1. Flour-fat-water. I should be telling you that the ratio reigns supreme. But as important as the ratio is, there is a secret. The secret to pie crust is not the ingredients, or their amounts, but how cold your ingredients are. I keep my vodka in the freezer at all times, if you don’t you’ll want to prepare ahead. I also tend to keep an extra pound or two of butter in the freezer (I buy it when it goes on sale). If you only keep enough butter on hand for your current baking (if such a person exists), then you need to freeze your butter (or vegan alternative). This recipe will also work with Crisco in pace of butter. But again, you want to make sure that it chills in the freezer over night.
There is no need to vary the ratio. You can add a teaspoon of sugar for a sweet pie, if you want. But you don’t need it.
Now, onto the pies. That’s right, pies plural. Mom and I made 2. I will link you to the Apple Maple Cream Cheese pie, but I want to talk to you about this pumpkin mousse pie. Yes, pumpkin mousse. I love traditional pumpkin pie. I really do, but I was certain that someone else was going to post about it (and they did, so go to the list of posts if you want a traditional pumpkin pie). I wanted to do something that put a new spin on a perennial favorite.
Mom and I made a pumpkin mousse pie to do just that. You simmer the pumpkin and cream with spices and then chill it and fold it to some cream that you have whipped and make an incredibly light and airy pie with just the right amount of spice for the season.
Before you bake my pie, make sure you take a moment to see all the other delicious pies from this month’s Ratio Rally hosted by Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen.
Charissa from Zest Bakery made Apple Galette with Pisco Soaked Golden Raisins
Claire from Gluten Freedom made Autumn Pumpkin Spice Pie
Meredith from Gluten Free Betty made Blueberry Pie
Jean Layton made Cheese Crusted Apple Pie
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure made Chess Pie
Silvana Nardone from Silvana’s Kitchen made Chicken Potpie
TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Chocolate Mousse Pie
gretchen from kumquat made deep dish chocolate bourbon pecan pie
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen made Frangipane Apple Pie & Tart
Shanua from Gluten Free Girl & The Chef Fresh made Pumpkin Pie
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Green Tomato Pie
Kate from katealicecookbook made Kale & zucchini tart
Caleigh from Gluten Free[k] made Leek and Potato Pie
Rachel from The Crispy Cook made Maple Walnut Pie
Morri from Meals With Morri made Spinach – Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche & Muffin Tin Pie Variations
Brooke from B & the boy! made Pot Pie
Mary Fran | frannycakes made Pumpkin Mousse Pie and Apple Maple Cream Cheese Pie
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine made Sweet Potato and Duck Pot Pie
Meaghan from The Wicked Good Vegan made Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Seed and Ginger Topping
~Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks made Mock Apple Pie
Irvin from Eat the Love made Double Butterscotch Apple Pie
| Pumpkin Mousse Pie |
|
Print
|
- For the crust
- 15 grams ground flax seeds
- 45 grams brown rice flour
- 45 grams sweet white sorghum flour
- 30 grams sweet rice flour
- 20 grams tapioca starch
- 20 grams corn starch
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick butter, frozen
- 1 tablespoon vodka, ice cold*
- 1/4 cup ice water*
- For the mousse
- 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
- 1 cup plus 2 cups chilled heavy cream
- cup granulated sugar
- teaspoon cinnamon
- teaspoon fresh nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 fresh cardamom pods
- 3 star anise pods
- 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 empty teabag meant for loose leaf tea or spice bag
- In a food processor, combine the flours, salt and butter. Pulse until the mixture resembles sand.
- Add the vodka and then add the water a little bit at a time. You want to add water just until you can get the dough to start to come together. If you add too much water, your crust can get tough.
- Pat the dough into a 4″ disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 30 minutes while you make the filling.
- In a medium saucepan, stir together the pumpkin, 1 cup of the cream, the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In the tea bag, add the cardamom, star anise and ginger. Close and add to the pumpkin mixture. Bring to a simmer and stir constantly. Simmer for 5 minutes. This is really more of a popping than a simmer because the mixture is so thick. Remove the tea bag of spices.
- Put the mixture in a bowl and refrigerate.
- Meanwhile, roll out the crust. Put in a pie pan, crimp the edges and pierce the bottom with a fork. Blind bake the crust with pie weights or dry beans in foil for 35-40 minutes. For the last 5 minutes of baking, brush with an egg wash if you want your crust to brown further.
- Chill the crust completely.
- Whip the remaining 2 cups cream until you have peaks. Fold 1/2 of the whipped cream into your pumpkin mixture to lighten it up. Then gently fold the pumpkin mixture into the whipped .
- Fill the pie crust with the mousse and decorate with some star anise and cinnamon (don’t eat the anise!). You will have some extra mousse. Just eat it with a spoon. I won’t tell. Or make a second crust and don’t fill either as full as the picture.
Don’t have a scale? Use 1 1/4 cups of a commercial all purpose blend.
You might not need all the water, be careful or your dough will bake up hard on the edges and be hard to cut.
you didn’t say if the vodka adds something special to the crust—and i am curious about the origin. It looks marvelous and sounds delicious
my post was a little late to the rally but it is up now.
Karen
It does – Cooks Illustrated & Alton Brown both suggest using it – in differing amounts.
Because it evaporates more quickly than water, it helps keep your crust from getting tough (from over mixing with blends that have xantham gum) and adds a bit of flakyness to the crust as opposed to crumblyness that you sometimes get from gluten free crusts.
Find all the GFRR recipes here: http://www.gfratiorally.com/Blogs+Recipes.html.