there wasn’t only chicken pot pie for pi day, we also had a quick cherry pie. normally, i’m a fruit pie purist and like to use fresh fruits to be sure the starch used for thickening is gluten free, but i really wanted cherry pie and it’s not cherry season.

comstock pie filling to the rescue. you don’t have to kill yourself with every baking project, shortcuts are okay. i already had a standard pate brisee crust prepared and i basically just dumped two cans of cherry pie filling into the bottom crust. the art and the love are in the weaving of the top crust. brush with a nice egg wash (cream and a whole egg) and sprinkle with demerara or granulated raw sugar and bake.

Pate Brisee

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (320g) Cup4Cup gluten free flour blend

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks 225g) unsalted butter chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Method

1. In the bowl of a food processor; combine flour and salt. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, about 8 to 10 seconds.
2. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube. Pulse until dough forms a ball; being careful not to overprocess, so not more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount of dough together between your fingers: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Divide the dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, for up to 1 month.