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Scene in the Garden of Gethsemane |

The recipe I AM sharing is one that I threw together for our Easter day dessert. The idea came about from chatting with my mom from whom I inherited that delicious Banana Pudding Recipe and that is exactly what I put in this pie crust. It was a huge hit with Kirk, the boys and Julie Cuthbert, our good friend who was our guest for dinner that day. I had called my mom to tell her that I was making a variation of her famous potato salad as a side dish to the ham that Julie was bringing over and she reminded me about using the Banana Pudding as a pie filler and that she used to use a graham cracker crust. Well, eating gluten-free, I don't have any graham crackers in the house anymore so I needed to improvise and this crust is what was born! It's versatile enough that you can fill it with any number of options; apples with a crumble topping would be delicious, pumpkin pie filling would be excellent as well, but be sure to try the banana pudding. The final result was a very light and sweet dessert that disappeared before my eyes! I wanted to take the leftovers over to Kirk's parents and he wouldn't let me take more than one piece over which I gave to my father-in-law who is diabetic. This pie is PERFECT for someone with diabetes since it uses the palm sugar which is low on the glycemic index. My mom used to make the Banana Pudding with or without a pie crust for her dad on a fairly regular basis due to his diabetes and he always enjoyed it! I hope you do too...
Easy Peasy Pie Crust
1/2 c Almond Flour*
1/2 c Wheat-free Oat Flour (or regular oat flour)
1 Tbs Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
Water as needed
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Place all ingredients except for the water in your Kitchenaid Mixer (or in a large bowl)
- Put the mixer on lowest setting and just start to mix the ingredients (you can also just use a spatula and your hands to mix)
- Add water a little at a time until you get a consistency that will allow the dough to stick together, but isn't runny.
- Ball the dough up and place it in your pie pan and spread it out until it covers the bottom and comes up the sides...be patient, it takes a little time to spread it evenly, but feel free to pull from some areas and fill in where needed.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Fill with the entire batch of Banana Pudding (or as much as is needed, you may not need the entire batch) and place in the fridge to set for a couple hours. (If you are doing an apple pie or pumpkin filling, just bake the crust, fill it and bake again - baking times will vary depending on the filling choice)
Banana Pudding Filling |
The story of the failed pie crust
Kaleb helping Mommy make an apple pie for Daddy. :) |
When I was making the apple pie for Kirk for the Dessert Theatre, I googled gluten-free pie crusts and found several that looked good so I figured I would give it a go! How hard could it be? Gluten Free Girl has a video tutorial that I watched and then the actual recipe I followed simply used butter, wheat-free oats, palm sugar and salt. All the tutorials I watched or read stressed the importance of keeping all your ingredients VERY cold along with any tools you were using. So I put my food processor bowl in the freezer prior to making my crust and I used cold butter and extremely cold water. I was very pleased with the initial dough and it was very delicious. However, when I went to bake it, it basically melted! I looked in the oven and just saw a puddle at the bottom of my pie plate! I took it out and placed it in the freezer. Once it was somewhat solid I spread it out in the pan again, poured in my apple pie filling and crumble topping and put it in the oven and baked it for close to an hour. It came out looking beautiful, but I didn't want to taste test it because I wanted to keep it intact. So, Kirk was actually tasting it for the first time ON-STAGE during the performance that night! Ha! I was sitting over with the band holding my breath when he took a bite...I was so nervous!
Well, he got a couple bites down, made a joke about it being gluten-free which got a huge laugh from the audience and he made his exit as he was supposed to. After the performance I asked how the pie turned out. He said it was ok and I thought he would say that the crust wasn't that good so I asked him what wasn't so great about it. He said it was just that the apples were under-cooked! Oh well, can't win 'em all! :) He had 2 more pieces during the following 2 performances and then we both ate the rest up at home...it did not go to waste! But, since he has raved about the simple pie crust that I have shared above and would request the Banana Pudding Pie any day, I think I'll stick with the simpler, healthier option! Wouldn't you?
Served with Dairy-free Coconut Milk Whipped Topping |
I hope you try this easy and healthy crust with your family using the fillings you enjoy. I would love to hear what you try and feel free to post pictures of your own creations on my Facebook page so we all can be inspired! And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow on Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram.
Treat yourself well!

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