GRAIN FREE BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE PIE

PIE! I LOVE pie. It’s up there in my top 5 favorite foods of all time. And so, naturally, when I removed inflammatory grains and gluten from my diet a few years ago, I’ve been on a quest ever since to perfect a summer berry pie.

After many attempts with various combinations of nut meals and coconut/seed flours, as well as coconut oil and dairy products from pastured cows, I landed on this combination that satisfied my desire for a light, flaky crust with a nutty taste that’s a nice balance to the fruit filling.

Paired with ripe and juicy summer berries, this is a crowd-pleaser at any summer party. Or, if you’re like me, you might make it for just you and a loved one to enjoy throughout the week. Pie for breakfast, anyone?

This almond flour crust and crumble combo works well with any honey-sweetened fruit filling. These are some of my favorites:

• Tart red cherries
• Diced strawberries with the juice of one lemon and lemon zest
• Peeled and cubed apples with cinnamon and grated ginger
• And of course the original blueberry recipe, below.

As you can see, I made this pie for the 4th of July with half blueberry filing and half strawberry lemon. It was seriously delicious and oh so festive!

One note about the bottom crust is that unfolding it into your pie plate takes a little practice. Don't get discouraged if you have to peel the thinly rolled crust layers off the parchment paper and use your hands to arrange them in the pie plate. If that happens to you the first time, use more arrowroot powder when rolling your next go-around.

When cooking the crust, you want to use a silicone cover or foil to cover the outer edges so they don't burn.

Here's a video of how to make the almond meal for the crumble at home (not that this is not blanched almond flour, so better used for the crumble and not the crust). If you can buy truly unpasteurized almonds from the farmers market (store-bought almonds, even raw organic ones, are required to be pasteurized with either heat or chemicals, also removing some of their nutritional benefits in the process). If you have a hard time digesting nuts, you can soak (also called sprouting or activating) them for up 8-12 hours in fresh water to help remove the phytic acid, then dehydrate them until they are completely dry.

For other Vivacious Basics cooking videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

PERFECT GRAIN FREE BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE PIE

YIELD: 1 pie
PREP: 30 min
COOK: 45 min
READY IN: 1 hour 15 min

The perfect grain free blueberry pie with a flaky pastry crust, sweet fruit filling made with raw honey, and topped with a nutty finish. Don't forget the vanilla coconut milk ice cream to make this truly red, white and blue!

INGREDIENTS

CRUST

• 1 ½ cups blanched almond flour

• ½ cup arrowroot flour (powder), plus more for rolling

• 4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter

• 2 - 3 Tbsp cold water

• ¼ tsp sea salt

FILLING

• 6 cups fresh, organic blueberries
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 2 Tbsp tapioca powder (starch)

CRUMBLE TOPPING

• 1 ½ cups fine almond meal
• ½ cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 Tbsp raw honey

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. For crust: Sift together almond flour, arrowroot and sea salt. Cut in butter using a pastry cutter or 2 butter knives until you have tiny crumbles throughout. Stir in water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough is just coming together into a ball.

3. Lay out a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle generously with arrowroot. Place crust dough on parchment, sprinkle generously with more arrowroot, and roll out until ½ inch thick. Flip over parchment into the bottom of a pie plate. If some dough sticks to parchment, peel off and press to cover plate’s bottom and sides, rolling over on the edges to make a nice crust edge.

4. Mix together all filling ingredients and pour into pie plate.

5. Mix together topping ingredients and crumble evenly over filling.

6. Cover edges of pie with silicon pie protector or aluminum foil to keep from burning.

7. Bake for 45 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature before serving so filling can thicken.