Gluten-Free Pie Crust (and Graham Crackers to Boot)

Greetings from our cozy cabin at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, MO!

We’re spending the week here for Thanksgiving. We got here at 5 p.m. Tuesday and I’ve already been cooking like they don’t sell food around here. But, I actually enjoy that, so taking the larger vehicle so we could sherpa a week’s worth of groceries was totally worth it.

Tomorrow, I’ll get started on all the traditional Thanksgiving fare, but first, I thought I’d share one thing I’ve already made here at the cabin: some gluten-free, xanthan gum-free graham crackers.

See? Yeah. I’m pretty proud of these, actually. The family got right to work after dinner on s’mores, and I had planned ahead just enough to bring stuff to make my own crackers. If I had planned even more, I would have made them at home and brought them…but no matter.

I used this recipe from Living Low Carb One Day at a Time, although I used real brown sugar rather than her healthier alternatives. (Hey, one step at a time, right?) Kudos to Karen over there for the great recipe.

I worried about the batter being really wet, but it worked out just fine. Just trust her when she says to roll it out between sheets of parchment. Silpats would probably be even better. But, I’m at a cabin, so we use what we brought, which remarkably included parchment.

Tomorrow I’ll be on full Thanksgiving alert, working on the turkey, dressing, pies and such. Oh, yeah, and the hubs wants to take the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield. I’ll see if we can work that in.

Speaking of pies, didn’t I promise pie crust in the title of this post? Ah, yes, I did. If you like a graham cracker crust, just use the above cracker recipe and crumble them up using your favorite crust recipe. Here are one or two crust recipes for you.

If you like a more traditional pastry-style crust, here’s the recipe I made ahead and froze into disks for the trip.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust (Traditional pastry style)

The dough actually behaves better after being frozen, or at least parking in the fridge for a few hours. If freezing, take it out of the freezer about 30 minutes before using.

• 2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cubed small and frozen
• 1/2 cup lard or margarine, cut into small pieces and frozen
• 1/4 cup ice cold water

Place the flour blend, salt, butter and lard or margarine into a food processor and pulse (er, I had to run mine a while) until it’s a crumbly meal. If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this with a pastry cutter. Just cut the butter and flour together. 

Drizzle in the cold water a bit at a time, pulsing the processor (or your fingers, as the case may be) until the dough comes together. You don’t have to use all the water, just enough to bring it together. When it just comes together when you press it, it’s done.

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. It will still be a bit crumbly, and that’s okay. Divide the dough in two and form each portion into a disk, pressing slightly to help it come together. Place each disk into a freezer bag and place in the freezer until about an hour before you need it.

Thaw and roll out on a GF-floured surface. If it comes apart, don’t freak — just use a spatula to pick up pieces as flatly as possible and press them together in your pie pan. Comes out exactly like the traditional pie crust you always knew.