I've mentioned my friend Clara several times. She's a gem of a friend who shares my random sense of humor, and my new love of almond flour!
I cannot sing the praises of this wonderful, naturally gluten free flour enough. I'm tempted to turn into Elana of Elana's Pantry, who uses almond or other nut flours exclusively in her cooking and baking. She's a genius! (If only I could be that skinny!)
I decided this holiday season that I didn't want to spend so much time working on pie crusts. Don't get me wrong, I do love a good pie crust. I've even created some really tasty gluten free versions that I'm quite proud of. But they also take a lot of time and planning to prepare.
And I like easy. I'm all about easy.
In my pre-gluten-free days I often made "Impossible Pies." Basically a simple savory or sweet pie that creates it's own crust during baking. You include a small amount of flour or a baking mix like bisquick in the pie batter which rises all around the pie and voila... instant crust!
I love those kinds of pies! Last year, I created a gluten free custard pie with this concept. I loved that pie and I decided to play around with that idea and make a new pie with almond flour. And chocolate. And coconut. And that wonderful gluten free Master Baking Mix.
Do you see where I'm going with this? Yes.
An Almond Joy Pie. Oh my. This pie may not be the prettiest girl on the block, but she is absolutely one of the most delicious pies I've ever tasted!!
The almond flour and finely shredded coconut make an amazingly decedent, golden crust. The chocolate chips sink to the bottom to create the ultimate "melt-in-your-mouth" sensation.
This pie is gluten free, (can be) casein free, low in saturated fats, low in sugar, and has no added salt. Enjoy this pie without an ounce of guilt!
This is probably my favorite pie this season. I promise you'll love it!
Almond Joy Impossible Pie
Wet Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut oil or butter
1 (12 oz.) can coconut milk
1 teaspoon almond extract (**optional -- see notes**)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
**1/4 cup sugar substitute equivalent of your choice (or another 1/4 cup sugar)
Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup GF Master Mix (or 1/4 cup gf flour of your choice with 1/4 teaspoon baking powder)
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Whisk together all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Make a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients and add all wet ingredients. Whisk wet ingredients together thoroughly and whisk with dry ingredients. Pour into a greased 10" pie pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean!
Carrie's Notes:
** Sugar Substitute = I'm becoming a big fan of an all natural substitute called "Truvia" It's made from the same plant as Stevia, but it's a non-bitter formula. I have been using this the past few weeks. I will substitute up to half of the sugar in a recipe with Truvia. For this recipe, I used 6 packets of Truvia. Each packets equals the sweetness of two teaspoons of regular sugar.
**Almond extract = Clara said that she did not like the addition of almond extract to the pie, she said that it added a bit of an "alcohol" flavor... so use the almond extract with caution, or use none-at-all!
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