Grain Free Strawberry Pie
Ingredients
Pastry
300g blanched almond meal
2 eggs
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp (30g) honey (or preferred sweetener, to taste)
30g coconut oil (or butter), plus extra for greasing the dish
Filling
5 cups strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
3 Tbsp honey (or preferred sweetener, to taste)
juice of half a lemon
2 Tbsp gelatin powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Assembling
1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water for egg wash (optional, for golden colour)
extra ground cinnamon for sprinkling on top
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Grease a 20cm pie dish with extra coconut oil or butter and set aside.
3. Place all pastry ingredients into a Thermomix bowl and mix 20 sec/speed 4.
4. Remove dough from the bowl with a spatula (it will be quite sticky) and divide in two.
5. Wrap half the dough in baking paper and place in the fridge to chill.
6. Roll out the other half of the dough to 5mm thick on a silicon mat, with a piece of baking paper on top of the dough to stop it from sticking to the rolling pin. (Alternatively, press dough into the pie dish instead of rolling it out.)
7. Press pastry into greased pie dish, trim edges, prick all over with a fork, and cook 15 mins at 180C. Set aside to cool.
Filling
1. Place 2 cups of the strawberries into a Thermomix bowl with honey, lemon juice, gelatine and cinnamon. Cook 7 mins/100C/rev/speed 1.
2. Remove to a large mixing bowl and stir in the remaining strawberries. Set aside.
Assembling
1. Roll out chilled pastry to 5mm thick, between silicon mat and baking paper. Cut into 1-inch strips with a bread knife. (Cut very gently so you don’t damage the silicon mat.)
2. Spoon the filling into the cooled pie crust, and lay pastry strips carefully over the top of the filling, weaving them together as you go to form a lattice pie top. (If you need to see how this is done, watch the video mentioned in my comments above.)
3. Brush pastry with egg wash, sprinkle with a little cinnamon, and place into the oven.
4. Bake 15-18 mins until golden.
5. Cool to room temperature, then place in the freezer to chill for an hour, to set the ‘jelly’ (or in the fridge for 2-3 hours).
6. Serve cold, with whipped coconut cream or coconut ice cream!
Notes
Variations
Apple & Strawberry Pie – 3 apples, peeled, deseeded and sliced in 5mm slices; place in a Thermomix bowl with honey, lemon juice, gelatine and 1 tsp cinnamon, and cook as above; remove to bowl and stir in 2 cups of halved strawberries. Assemble and bake as above.
Apple Pie – 6 apples, peeled, deseeded and sliced in 5 mm slices; place in a Thermomix bowl with honey, lemon juice, gelatine and 1 tsp cinnamon, and cook as above; assemble and bake as above.
Egg-Free Variation – replace eggs in pastry with 2 Tbsp milled chia seeds mixed with 6 Tbsp water. Brush pastry with milk of choice (e.g. almond milk) instead of egg wash.
Vegan Variation – replace eggs as above, and use 2 tsp agar powder instead of gelatine in the filling.
To whip coconut cream – place a tin of thick coconut cream in the fridge and leave overnight. Next day, remove the very thick cream from the top and place it in a chilled bowl. Whisk with a hand whisk until smooth. (If you blend in the Thermomix it will heat up too much and won’t stay firm.) You can add a little honey or maple syrup and vanilla if you like.