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pie crust
Adapted from: http://joepastry.com/2008/how_to_make_pie_dough/
The goal here is to make a tender crust that is crunchy and a bit flaky when baked fully. Besides subbing the flour for a low-carb option, the most important tweaks I made were:
1. Using cream cheese as a medium to hold together the almond and coconut flours which would otherwise be crumbly and cause the crust to fall apart easily.
2. Rolling the butter into thin layers allows for a tiny bit of flakiness.
170g frozen unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
185g almond flour
100g coconut flour
1 teaspoon of guar gum or xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
128g cream cheese (warm)
2 tablespoons of beaten egg (cold)
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
Mix the almond, coconut, guar, salt and baking powder together until well combined.
Add the cream cheese and rub together until the cream cheese has become tiny little crumbs in the "flour" mixture.
Pour this mixture into a thick plastic or ziplock bag and add the frozen butter. Use a rolling pin to roll the butter cubes flat and thin in the dry mixture.
Dump the entire mix out back into the original bowl and add the egg, mixing until barely combined, but stop before the butter streaks disappear.
Freeze or refridgerate for 10 minutes or until the dough is cold enough to roll out without melting the butter.
Roll out and place in a pie tin of choice, trim the edges, poke a few small holes in the bottom layer to all steam to escape, then either fill with the filling to be baked, or for blind baking (pre-baking), follow instructions below:
Blind Baking / Pre-baking:
Freeze the prepped pie dough in its pie tin until frozen solid.
Cover with a non-stick mat or baking paper and fill with baking weights (or beans or rice). This will keep the pie dough in the right shape until it is cooked through.
Bake at 350F/180C for 10 minutes if making mini pies, 20 minutes for larger pies.
Remove from the oven and carefully remove a corner of the pie weights and baking paper. If the crust looks cooked but not yet brown, remove the rest of the paper and weights and return to the oven to bake for another 5-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
(If the bottom of the crust is not yet cooked after the first baking period, keep the paper and weights on top and bake for an extra 5-10 minutes before moving on with the rest of the instructions.)
Cool for a few minutes before adding your filling, or cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for future use.
Nutrition Info:
Please note that I used MyFitnessPal to calculate this info, so it is not 100% accurate, AND I don't think it tracks net carbs, so a portion of the carbs listed may be processed by your body as fiber and not actually absorbed as energy.
net carbs = total carbs - dietary fiber (dietary fiber is what makes up about half of most sugar-alcohols, as well as most of the carbs in coconut flour)
