These are delicious! I was scared to make pastry after I was diagnosed. From my year 12 food and technology classes, I knew gluten was important. It helped to make strands, and give the pastry structure. When you knead pastry, you help to develop the gluten strands, and build the brilliant texture of pastry. Luckily in shortcrust pastry, the short comes from the fact you don’t knead it, therefore the gluten strands are short. So making gluten free short crust isn’t too hard, because there’s no need to develop the non-existant gluten! I add an egg to this pastry, unlike other recipes, to help it bind and stay together.
You could have any filling you want. My Mum brought us fresh farm apples from Torrello Farms on the Mornington Peninsula, and I was inspired to make these. I used frozen blackberries I had in the freezer. They’re so much cheaper!
Flour: The sweet short crust pastry is pretty much all flour. So pick one you trust. I like to use Ardor gluten free (not sponsored, as I have been mentioning them alot if you read my recipes, I just really love the end product it provides!). Otherwise Bobs Red Mill will also work. Note I did try it with Orgran and the pastry was quite crumbly, so I wouldn’t recommend.
Happy baking!
Love Kath xx
Ingredients
- PASTRY:
- 175g gluten free plain flour*
- 75g butter, cold and cubed
- 25g icing sugar
- 1 large orange, grated zest only
- 1 egg, beaten
- FILLING:
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
- 50g caster sugar (golden or white)
- 150g blackberries
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- TO SERVE:
- Custard or ice cream
Instructions
For the pastry:
- Sift the flour. Either pulse the flour and butter in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs, or in a medium bowl rub the butter into the gluten free flour using your finger tips. At the end it should resemble breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the icing sugar and orange zest. Beat the egg, and mix through until it just comes together as a dough. Wrap the dough in clingwrap and place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or until firm.
Meanwhile prepare the filling:
- Place the chopped apple and 50g of caster sugar (golden or white) in a saucepan and mix together. Place over medium heat, and cook covered with a lid for 8 minutes or until the apple are soft. Stir once or twice to stop sticking. Tip the mixture ino a baking tray covered with baking paper, and spread out to cool slightly. Tip in the blackberries and stir together.
- In a medium bowl mix together the honey, cornflour, cinnammon and nutmeg. Then add the fruit mixture and stir together.
Putting together:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan forced)
- Remove the pastry from the fridge. Dust the bench with gluten free flour. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1-2mm. You can use greaseproof pastry to stop it sticking. Using a 8-10 cm round cutter, cut out circles (I cut about 12-14).
- Spoon the fruit mixture onto half of the pastry circles, leaving a 1cm border. Brush the beaten eggs around the edges. Place a plain pastry circle on top to encase the filling, and press down around the edges. Use the prongs of a fork to seal all the way around the edge. Brush with egg, and poke a steam hole in the top with a knife. Sprinkle with caster sugar. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Arrange the pies on a baking tray. You can freeze the pies for up to 2 months, chill for 24 hours until ready to cook or cook immediately (which I typically do).
- Place in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbling through the hole (on some). If cooking from frozen bake for an extra 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar. Serve!
Notes
* Flour used is either Ardor gluten free or Bobs Red Mill. I can't guarantee results with other flours. So use something you know is good quality and you trust.
