Strawberry rhubarb pie has always been a favorite of mine. When I saw that my neighbor’s rhubarb was ready (and she offered me some), I wanted to take on a grain and refined sugar free variations of this pie!
I decided to make two different kinds (one that is dairy free, and one that has butter in it).
The first pie is dairy free, and the crust was made with almond meal, coconut flour, and unrefined coconut oil. This pie has unrefined coconut oil in the filling.
The second pie has no coconut in it. It was made with an almond meal and grass-fed butter crust, and has grass-fed butter in the filling.
okay so these pies are not beautiful… When working with alternative flours I find it difficult to make “pretty” pies. However, they were a hit with the family and the neighbors…I could not tell a difference.
I wanted to create these on my own so I did not follow any particular recipe. I did however look in the “Good Housekeeping” cookbook for a basic pie recipes to give me an idea of measurements. I sweetened both pies with raw honey! They were topped with whipped coconut cream, and very delicious!
Pie #1: Grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar free Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients for the crust:
2 cups of almond meal
1/3 cup of coconut flour
3/4 cup of coconut oil
6-8 TBS water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sea salt
Ingredients for the filling:
3 cups of cut-up organic strawberries
1 cup of chopped rhubarb
3 TBS coconut oil
4 TBS raw honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3 TBS tapioca flour
zest of one lemon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Directions for pie #1
1. Set oven to 375 degrees
2. make crust-I did not melt the coconut oil. I put all the ingredients in a bowl and mashed it all together with a whisk or large fork (a pastry blender would probably work better, I just didn’t have one on hand)
3. make dough into 2 separate balls
4. roll out dough from one of the balls on a surface dusted with almond flour-or between parchment paper that is dusted with almond flour, and place it in the bottom of the pie pan. This dough is not easy to work with and breaks easily. Try not to get frustrated. I had to do some patching and pressing. It doesn’t have to look perfect.
5, Roll out the second ball of dough and cut it with a pizza cutter into strips-set aside
6. Make the filling- chop up 3 cups of strawberries and 1 cup of rhubarb
7. put the filling in the pie crust, and zest the lemon over it
8. in a small pan over low heat melt the coconut oil with the raw honey, lemon juice, vanilla and cinnamon, pour the mixture over the berries and zest
9. sprinkle the tapioca flour over this mixture
10. arrange the strips of dough over the top-and bake for approx 45 minutes (tent foil over the top during the last 15 minutes to prevent outer crust from burning…
voila!!! Pie number one is complete…
I let it set for about 20 minutes so it could thicken and the juices could settle. During this time I whipped up some coconut cream!
Coconut Whipped Cream:
refrigerate 1 can of coconut milk (not the reduced fat kind). Open the can and take the cream off of the top and place it in a bowl. *you can save the watery part for other recipes-you could even use it in place of water in dough for the pies! Add 1 TBS raw honey, 1/2 tsp vanilla and whip with beaters on high until stiff
ENJOY!!!
Pie #2: Grain-free, refined sugar free Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (with grass-fed butter crust and filling)
Ingredients for the crust:
3 cups of almond meal
1/2 cup of butter
6 TBS water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
Ingredients for the filling:
3 cups of cut-up organic strawberries
1 cup of chopped rhubarb
3 TBS butter (kerry gold grass-fed)
4 TBS raw honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3 TBS tapioca flour
zest of one lemon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Directions:
1. Set oven to 375 degress
2. make crust-I did not melt the butter oil. I put all the ingredients in a bowl and mashed it all together with a whisk or large fork (a pastry blender would probably work better, I just didn’t have one on hand)
3. make dough into 2 separate balls
4. roll out dough from one of the balls on a surface dusted with almond flour-or between parchment paper that is dusted with almond flour, and place it in the bottom of the pie pan. This dough is not easy to work with and breaks easily. Try not to get frustrated. I had to do some patching and pressing. It doesn’t have to look perfect.
5. you can either roll out the second ball of dough and cut into strips to make a weave on top, or roll it out to cover the entire top (which is what I did with this pie)
6. Make the filling- chop up 3 cups of strawberries and 1 cup of rhubarb
7. This time I mixed the tapioca in with the strawberries and rhubarb, and then dumped the mixture into the pie crust, and zested the lemon right on top
8. Melt the raw honey with the cinnamon, lemon juice, and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the berry/rhubarb mixture
9. Cut the butter into chunks and dot it all over the berry/rhubarb mixture
10. Put the top pie shell on top and crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork-make a few slits in the top
11. bake for approx 45 minutes, covering all around the edges of the pie with foil during the last 15 minutes so the edges do not get burned. Do not cover the whole pie as you want the top to crisp up
Pie #2!
*let the pie “settle” for 20 minutes or so
Follow the directions for coconut cream to top!
Enjoy!