Pie and Other Southernisms

It's frustrating to go through the holidays and go without. Most of the time I don't even think about it, but there are certain things that just drive me up the wall. Pie is one of those things.

I remember going to my grandmother's house for holidays and having the fridge packed with different sorts of homemade pies. Pumpkin and pecan are two of my absolute favorites. So, when I happened upon a book called Southern Pies: A Gracious Plent of Pie Recipes, from Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan by Ms Nancie McDermott I decided that God did not mean for me to go through life without ever tasting pie again. And, if I did, I certainly wasn't going to be out for the count for a week or more.

So I plan to go through this book and try to make Becca-safe alternatives for all these classics. Now, with grad school still breathing heavily down my neck, I don't know how quickly this will be accomplished...but here is my start.

Canola Oil Crust

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of your favorite GF baking mix

( I use 1/3 cup garbonzo-fava bean flour, 2/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup potato starch, 1 tsp xanthan gum)

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons cold milk (or milk alternative-- I find hemp milk works nicely with baking)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Use a fork or a whisk to stir them together well.

In a small bowl, combine the oil and milk. Use a fork to mix them together into a frothy mixture. (Or put them in a jar with a lid and shake well to combine them.)

Scoop out a well in the flour mixture and pour the oil-milk mixture into the flour. Use a fork to bring the liquid and dry ingredients together into a crumbly mixture.

Press the dough into your pie pan, using your fingers to build up the sides of the dish.

You can wrap and refrigerate the crust for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 weeks if you don't want to use it immediately.

Egg Custard Pie

Ingredients

1 9" pie pan & crust

1 1/4cups milk (or milk alternative)

4 Eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp G/F vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Because you don't cook this pie for very long, you need to partially cook your crust before you get started. Take the crust that you created from the above recipe and cover it with a sheet of parchment paper. Use dry rice or beans to fill pie pan on top of the parchment. This keeps the crust from shrinking as it cooks and holds the paper down. Bake in the oven at 375degrees for 10 minutes then remove and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350degrees.

In a medium sauce pan heat the milk (or milk alt) until it steams. Look for tiny bubbles at the sides and rising steam from the milk. Remove from the heat before it comes to a boil. Also, resist the urge to immediately add this hot mixture to your eggs because it will cook your eggs too quickly and give it a scrambled egg texture.

In a medium bowl beat the eggs well. Stir in the vanilla, sugar and salt. Stir well to dissolve the sugar and combine everything well.

Slowly pour the milk, stirring with a whisk or a big wooden spoon.

If you are using an aluminum pie tin and not a glass one, place it on a cookie sheet before the next step.

Pour the custard filling into the partially baked piecrust (now free of rice/beans and parchment) and sprinkle nutmeg over the top.

Place the pie on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake until the custard filling is mostly firm but still wiggly in the center. 25 to 35minutes (depending on oven). Let the pie cool to room temp before serving.