I make crustless, gluten-free pumpkin pie using the Impossible Pumpkin Pie recipe (Bisquick/Betty Crocker recipe). You can use the gluten-free Bisquick, Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking mix, or your own homemade gluten-free baking mix mixture. I make a high-fiber, high-protein, low-carb, gluten-free baking mix. Makes approx. 1-cup baking mix: 1/2 c. almond flour 1/2 c. hi-maize resistant starch (available through King Arthur or Honeyville Grain) 1/4 t. salt 1-1/2 t. baking powder 1 T. coconut oil (or other fat/oil of choice) Mix ingredients with a hand-held electric mixer until fat is well blended. --------------------------------------------------- My mother was gluten-intolerant and made gluten-free cornbread. When it was cool, sliced it into small cubes and toasted the cubes in the oven before using it for dressing. You could use the same method with other gluten-free breads (commercial or homemade). -------------------------------------------------- Cornstarch is what my mother always used for thickening gravy, and you can also use rice flour, arrowroot, or Instant Clear Jel, to mention a few alternatives. Instant Clear Jel (available from King Arthur and larger amounts available on-line - I buy it in #10 cans) is a modified corn starch that is popular with pie bakers. (Note: Do not use the instant version for canning of pie fillings because it is designed for heating only the one time which is when the pie is actually baked - use regular Clear Jel for canning). Features and Benefits: INSTANT CLEAR JEL will begin to swell or thicken as soon as it is added to water, milk or juices; it will impart a smooth, short texture when fully hydrated. The viscosity will increase slightly upon heating. It has excellent heat and acid resistance and can be used in acid containing foods and in those applications where heating is required. INSTANT CLEARJEL also has good cold temperature storage stability making it particularly well suited for refrigerated and frozen foods. 1 T. cornstarch = 1 1/2 T. Instant Clear Jel 2 T. flour or tapioca = 1 T. Instant Clear Jel Not all thickeners work the same. Some break when cooked too long, some are poor at gel formation, not all of them freeze well, or don't reheat well. Different thickeners work for different food applications, so 2 or 3 gluten-free thickeners may be necessary for different uses. For every 2 tablespoons of flour used as a thickener use: -1 T. cornstarch -2-1/2 t. arrowroot -1 T. tapioca (quick cooking, granulated) -1 T. potato starch -2-1/2 t. rice flour or rice starch --------------------------------------------------- I've been experimenting with a recipe I found on-line for "One Minute Muffins" and I thought it might also work for the bread substitute in dressing (cubed and toasted) but haven't tried it yet. Our daughter (the work-out warrior in the family) was looking for a low-carb, high-protein, bread substitute she could make at home without a lot of time and expense, and this recipe has worked well for her for a lot of applications (burger buns, toast, grilled sandwiches, bread pudding, etc. - and it's also gluten-free. One Minute Muffin 1/4 c. almond flour 2 T. golden flaxmeal (we also like to substitute the flaxmeal with 2 T. hi-maize resistant starch or 2 T. unflavored whey protein isolate) pinch of salt 1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 T. unsalted butter 1 large egg 1. Melt butter in a 4-1/2-inch ramekin. 2. Whisk egg then slowly drizzle in the melted butter. 3. To the egg and butter add almond flour, flaxseed meal and salt. Mix well with a spoon. 4. Sprinkle with baking powder and mix one more time. 5. Spoon into ramekin and microwave for one minute. 6. Remove from microwave with dish towel and invert onto a cooling rack. 7. Split in half and toast. (I get 3 thin slices from each "muffin". NOTE: If you don't like eggs, you might not like this bread substitute because it has an eggy flavor. If you spread peanut butter on the toasted slices, you won't notice the eggy flavor. Options: This morning I made the recipe but I used the batter to make 2 small sticky pecan rolls in 3-1/2-inch ramekins. I melted the butter between the ramekins and made the recipe for the batter (using whey protein isolate). In the bottom of each ramekin I added 1/2-t. of palm sugar nectar (honey or agave nectar would also work) and a light sprinkle of palm sugar (brown or white sugar could be used), cinnamon and chopped pecans. Divided the batter between the two ramekins, microwaved for 45-seconds. Hubby approved! A lot of low-carb foods are also gluten-free, and this recipe is a good example. -Grainlady

Okay, I decided to trust the commenters and tried it with Trader Joe's GF AP flour, which is rice, potato and tapica, flours and starches. It came together fine, but was more of a firm slurry than a real pastry dough. I attribute that to the flour more than the recipe, but the person who will be eating it has a very restricted diet and can have this, and it sounded light, which is what I wanted from my crust. I refrigerated the dough well before rolling, but my kitchen is warm and it turned back into moosh right fast. It oozed under my ring form. Following the advice of the commenters, I rolled between plastic, as usual, but placed the dish on the pastry before upending them together. Good advice that. The top layer of plastic came off fine, but it was a slow road getting the rolling bottom layer off once it was on top of the dish. The goo (pastry) didn't come off at all where there wasn't a dish to stick to. With patience, however, it did transfer and came out pretty clean. It's for a quiche, and since it was goo, it definitely needed to be blind baked. The goo is thin and delicate so I thought the usual 425ð might be too much. I looked up GF blind and found someone who recommended 350ð. That seemed low to me, so I decided on 375ð. 400ð might have been fine, but I didn't want to brown, just to firm it up. The goo was also too soft for weights. I tried docking it, but the holes just sealed up, so I baked it for 10 minutes and docked it again in the oven. Where it had started to lift was still soft enough that it went back down. It stayed in for another five minutes or so, and was just starting to brown when I took it out. It's fine. There are a couple of small holes where the dough sug, but I'm not worried. If I remember, I'll seal them. This isn't for a prize or anything. :) I baked the excess in the bottom of a ramkin and tasted it. MUCH MUCH BETTER. Crispy and light rather than crumbly and dense. More like a tart shell than pie pastry, but I'm fine with that. :)

Thanks, Colleen, I'll remember that. I usually remove the dessert from the pan, but Amanda cut this before I could even put it on a cake plate, my Mother wanted a piece with her coffee before dinner, as an "appetizer". She's 82 and she's my Mother, so we cut it, LOL, and after that, it was all downhill. (grin) Fortunately my family is very "laid back" about such things, so no one really cared. Except me, because I'd climbed that stupid step stool to get the cake plate down from the top shelf and then I didn't need it! I plopped the torte onto it anyway, I WAS going to use the darned thing. Shambo, the torte does call for eggs in both the filling and the crust, but I think the flax "egg" might be an OK substitute, because the sweet potatoes have a texture that's dense enough to keep shape. I haven't tried it, but I see no reason why it can't work... OK, the recipe. I did use fresh sweet potatoes, but I boiled them in lieu of roasting them as the recipe instructs, because I needed whipped sweet potatoes for the chipotle mashed sweets and I just didn't want to cook separate batches. I used coconut milk and the gluten free flour mix from King Arthur. I found the crust troublesome to roll, but it pressed easily into the springform pan and I flattened it with the bottom and sides of my metal measure cup. I used my food processor for the crust, but it could easily be done with a pastry cutter and a bowl. Sweet Potato Torte DOUGH: 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour blend 2 tbls tapioca starch/flour 3 tbls brown sugar (omit for a savory crust) 6 tbls unsalted butter or a dairy free alternative 1 large egg 1/4 tsp salt 1 tbls ice water (more if needed) Preheat oven to 375F and light grease a 9 inch pie plate or springform pan. IN a food processor mix gluten free flour blend, tapioca, brown sugar and salt, pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse to make a coarse meal. Add egg and ice water and mix just until mixture forms a ball. Flatten dough into a 6 inch disc between 2 sheets of parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Roll out to fit pan, fill and bake as recipe requires. FILLING: 2 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes (about 3 medium) 1 3/4 cups of unsweetened coconut milk or unsweetened milk of choice + 1/4 cup of honey (or 2 fourteen ounce cans sweetened condensed milk) 6 tbls unsalted butter or dairy free alternative, melted 2 large eggs 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp ground nutmeg 3/4 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon Preheat oven to 375F. Place sweet potatoes in oven and bake 50 to 55 minutes, until tender. Cut in half and scrape potatoes out of their skins into a bowl. With a hand mixer (I used the Kitchen Aid instead) beat potatoes until smooth. Add all additional ingredients to potatoes and mix until well combined. Roll or press dough into a 9 inch or larger springform pan, pressing up the sides 1 to 1 1/2 inch. If dough cracks, repair with dampened fingers. Add filling and bake until center is set and sides start to brown, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool before slicing and serve at room temperature. Now, for the raspberry pie, that was very easy compared to the torte, the gluten free baking requires pretty much everything from scratch and careful cleanup so as not to contaminate what I just baked. My raspberry pie used the Nathan's Never Fail crust that SharonCB posted, and raspberries from the garden. I thickened the berries with cornstarch and didn't think they were thick enough, so added extra. Next time I think I'll stick with the original amount because the raspberry filling was pretty firm. And I still think it needs a layer of chocolate in there somewhere, maybe on the bottom of the crust under the cream cheese layer. The recipe called for a graham cracker crust, I used a pie shell but a chocolate crust might be good too. This is pretty quick and easy, although I used whipped cream instead of Cool Whip and it went pretty flat, I think the Cool Whip would have held up better, it seems sturdier... Raspberry Cream Pie TOPPING: 6 cups fresh raspberries, divided 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 3 tbls cornstarch CREAM FILLING 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese 1 cup whipped topping 1 cup confectioners sugar 1 prepared crust (9 inches) Fresh mint for garnish if desired Mash about 2 cups raspberries to measure 1 cup, place in saucepan. Add sugar, cornstarch and water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir 2 minutes longer and strain to remove seeds if desired (I didn't). Cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar in a bowl, mix in whipped cream or topping. Spread in bottom of crust, top with remaining berries. Pour cooled raspberry sauce over top and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours. Garnish with mint if desired. The mint would have been pretty but there's none in my yard in Michigan in late November! Annie

Yes, PM, I do. As I said, I like them better, and they aren't as fragile, so they are easier for the kids to handle if The Princess wants to make some. They also are a bit more substantial for the spreading of Nutella/etc. I did grow some corn and grind my own meal, but I use Aunt Jemima brand too, it's the only thing available at my local groceries. I did buy some Brinser's at the local Amish grocery and liked it very much, but the kids didn't like it as well. It was coarser and not as sweet, which made great hoe cakes and cornbread, but the kids want those sweet/fluffy muffin type cornbreads. Southern cornbread that Elery grew up with has no flour, no sugar and white cornmeal. I grew up on "johnny cake" which is sweeter and has flour and yellow cornmeal. So I use his recipe and it's gluten free anyway, and the kids just put butter and honey or sorghum on it and it's sweeter, LOL. I use this recipe for the crepes. I've used coconut milk in place of the dairy successfully, but I've never tried to leave out or replace the egg. Gluten Free Easy Crepes Recipe makes 10 crepes (depends on your pan size!) Ingredients: 2/3 cup milk 1/3 cup (or 50g) cornstarch 1 egg 2 teaspoons olive oil or melted butter pinch of salt Directions: Mix (I used a small whisk) all ingredients until very well blended. Spritz a pan (small, nonstick) with olive oil. Preheat the pan over medium-high heat. Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter into the pan while swirling the pan. Continue to swirl the pan – OFF the heat! – until the batter begins to bubble and there is no longer excess batter to swirl. Cook for 20-40 seconds (the first crepe takes the longest… this time is for the quicker crepes) or until steam is puffing out the sides. Quickly and with some care, flip the crepe and cook and additional 15-20 seconds. Continue until all the batter is used. (Depending upon your pan, you may not have to spritz it with oil between crepes.) Annie