Question About Pies

[Green12]

I have a question hopefully someone can help me with. I want to make pumpkin and pecan pies, both call for using an unbaked pie shell.

The alternative gluten-free crusts I want to use say to prebake (for example the cookie crumb crust)

What do I do?

Anybody have any thoughts or advice??

[jerseyangel]

Hi Julie

The only gluten-free crust I've used is Gluten Free Pantry Piecrust Mix. It's delicious and "acts" like a regular crust. You don't have to pre-bake it (unless the recipe calles for it).

I made pumpkin pie with it last year, and it turned out perfectly.

If you do use it, the only thing to remember is to roll it between plastic wrap because it's impossible to get it up off the counter.

[Green12]

Hi Julie

The only gluten-free crust I've used is Gluten Free Pantry Piecrust Mix. It's delicious and "acts" like a regular crust. You don't have to pre-bake it (unless the recipe calles for it).

I made pumpkin pie with it last year, and it turned out perfectly.

If you do use it, the only thing to remember is to roll it between plastic wrap because it's impossible to get it up off the counter.

Thanks Patti for this info., great tips

I am going to use the cookie crumb crust recipes that I found, I just don't know if I should leave them unbaked before putting the filling in (as per the pie recipes) or follow the crust recipes and prebake them then add the filling

[StrongerToday]

I'd follow the crust recipie. At worst, the crust is crispy. If you don't bake it, the moisture from the pie filling could make the crust soggy and who wants that?

I also LOVE the GFP crust, yummy!

[luvs2eat]

I make my pumpkin pie crust w/ crushed gluten-free gingersnaps... almost like a cheesecake... delish.

Never had any problems w/ unbaked shells.

[num1habsfan]

the only home-made pie crust I've made is El peto (or is it El Pito? i can never remember ). It says to roll it out and then put it between ez wrap or whatever and roll it with a rolling pin...but that didnt work so well--it fell apart. (theres actually a warning on the box that says kneeding it will not help make it any better dough).

So honestly I built the pie crust in the pie plate myself--I just used my hands to press it together, and then for the top of it rolled a smaller ball and and left a little dough on the side so I joined the top of it and the crust together (again with my hands)

Its gotta sound dumb, but honestly it worked out perfectly!! It held together VERY well.

Hope this helps ya

~ lisa ~

[GFBetsy]

The one concern I would have with using a crumb crust for those types of pies is that I would be afraid that the filling would leak through the crumbs and burn . . . I don't know if prebaking would solve that problem.

My sister made pumpkin pie last week and used a gluten free sugar cookie dough for the crust . . . just pressed it into the pie plate, filled it with pumpkin pie goop, and baked it. She said it worked really well. You've got to have the right sugar cookie recipe, though, because an awful lot of gluten free sugar cookies taste mostly like sand. Blech! Let me know if you want the recipe I use . . . Hey! It just occured to me that you could probably just use gingersnap cookie dough for a crust, too . . . mmmmm. That'd be good with pumpkin, though not so great for pecan.

[Green12]

Thank you everyone for all the great tips, suggestions, and info! I really appreciate it

I am just going to wing it and hope everything comes out ok, I think it will. It might not look pretty on first attempt, but I am sure it will taste good I can learn what works and what doesn't, and fine tune it for Christmas.

[jerseyangel]

Julie,

I'm sure they will turn out just fine--and, like you said, even if they don't look perfect, they'll still be delicious

Worse comes to worse, you can always spoon the pie into dessert dishes and put whipped cream or topping on top. Just call it a crumble

[Irishlass]

I was going to use the graham cracker crust in Lisa Lewis' Special Diets For Special Kids book along with a regular pumpkin pie recipe for the filling. The pumpkin pie recipe I use calls for an unbaked crust, though. Has anyone tried a "graham" cracker crust unbakes with pumpkin pie?

I'm wondering about freezing it too- we have to travel 13 hours for T-giving, and I'd like to be able to make it ahead.

[zansu]

Worse comes to worse, you can always spoon the pie into dessert dishes and put whipped cream or topping on top. Just call it a crumble

I like the way you think!

[domineske]

I use Gillian's frozen pie crusts for pumpkin pie all the time. I just follow the Libby's recipe and use the pie crust frozen (not thawed) and they turn out fine. The only problem with Gillian's is finding one that's not cracked. They crack very easily.

[Green12]

I just wanted to give an update on how this all worked, in case anybody cared I meant to do it earlier, but if anyone is making pies for Christmas/the holidays and you didn't want to do a roll out crust, the cookie crusts worked great for my pies.

I ended up prebaking the crusts a little before putting the filling in.

I used a crispy/crunchy ginger cookie for the pumpkin pie from a local gluten-free bakery, very similar in texture to the Midel gluten-free ginger snap cookies, processed them in a food processor until it made crumbs (about 3/4 c per pie) and added 2 tbsp melted butter. Then I pressed it into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie plate. I pre-baked it for 5-10 minutes for it to set up a little, then poured the filling in and baked according to pie directions.

For the pecan pie I used Pamelas pecan shortbread cookies. They are really buttery to begin with so the result after processing isn't exactly crumbs but sort of mush, so I didn't add any extra butter. I again patted it down on the bottom and sides of the 9" pie plate and baked 5-10 minutes to set and then poured the filling in and baked according to the pie directions. Pamela's shortbread cookies made the best crust, everybody raved about it.

Happy pie making!