Mini Gluten Free Cherry Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why does my gluten free pie crust fall apart? ›

Ingredients and Substitutions:

You also want to make sure this flour blend has xantham gum. Xantham gum is what helps hold the flour and pie ingredients together, and mimics what gluten does. Gluten is like glue, and is why doughs stay together. Without xantham gum, it will be crumbly and fall apart.

You pre-bake it with baking beads. Baking beads are ceramic “marbles” that you place in the crust prior to baking. If you're doing a pie with fresh or frozen cherries, pre-cook them to reduce moisture. You could use a “pie bird” that is placed in the center of the pie before baking.

All-Purpose Flour

Flour is a popular thickener for sauces and soups, and it can be used to add body to your fruit filling. It's great because it thickens at low temperatures, but you'll need to use more of it because it's not as effective as some of the other starches.

Most all cherry pie filling is gluten and dairy free, but not all have safe manufacturing processes! Below are some suggestions. Tap the link to learn more about these brands and their manufacturing process.

Xanthan gum.

This acts as a binder (essentially a gluten replacement) and prevents the pie crust from being too crumbly and from tearing or cracking when you roll it out and use it to assemble the pie crust. It allows you to easily crimp the edges, create a lattice or anything else you might want to achieve.

Add xanthan gum to gluten-free flour. It enhances elastic qualities that gluten-free flours lack, making it easier to work with and less likely to crumble. Add plenty of water to the gluten-free flour to prevent the pastry from becoming too dry when rolling out.

But the one surefire way to make certain your pie's crust will be golden brown, crisp, and delicious — just as appealing as its filling — is to prebake it. That's right: bake the bottom crust first, before adding the filling.

Crust dust is a 1:1 mixture of flour and granulated sugar. When baking a pie, especially a fruit pie, a couple of teaspoons of crust dust sprinkled into the bottom of the crust will help prevent the crust from becoming saturated with juicy filling as it bakes.

Sprinkle dried breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, or other types of cereal, on the bottom crust before filling and baking in the oven. The layer will absorb moisture and prevent the filling from turning the crust soggy.

Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency. Tapioca starch is preferable for products that will be frozen because it will not break down when thawed. We like tapioca in blueberry, cherry or peach pies.

Is cornstarch or flour better for pie filling? ›

Cornstarch makes for a shiny, glossy filling. A little goes a long way because it has twice the gelling power of flour. Flour thickens nicely but leaves more of a matte finish. You'll need to use twice as much as you would with cornstarch.

All-purpose flour is an easy substitute for cornstarch; in fact you may see recipes for thickening pie fillings or soups with either. You'll need 2 tablespoons of flour for every 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a recipe.

If you don't feel like making your own pumpkin pie filling, we can happily say that Libby's pumpkin pie filling is definitely gluten-free.

Jell-O Instant Cheesecake Pudding & Pie Filling Contains Gluten. Once again, Jell-O Instant Cheesecake Pudding & Pie Filling contains barley in its flavoring ingredients, and so is not gluten-free and not safe for celiacs.

Lucky Leaf Premium Apple Fruit Filling has NO High Fructose Corn Syrup and is Gluten-Free. Made from the finest blend of ripened fruit, picked at the peak of perfection; it's the quick and easy way to make homemade desserts the whole family will enjoy.

You might feel intimidated to make the pie crust yourself because of all the things that can go wrong, but you don't have to be. If your pie crust keeps falling apart, it is probably dry. To remedy this, add more cold water to the dough mixture in small amounts at a time.

Gluten is a binding agent that keeps food together, so if you elect not to use it, the result is often crumbly baked goods that fall apart when you touch them.

Let it rest—but not in the fridge

This is a great idea if you make your pie dough in advance and need somewhere to keep it for a few days, but if you're making pie that same day, ditch the cold. The fridge temperature solidifies the fat and makes the crust mixture more likely to crack and break if it gets too chilly.

If it's dry and crumbly, try adding more water by the teaspoon until it's smooth. If it's dry and oily, try sprinkling it with just as much extra all purpose gf flour as necessary.