The First Pie of the Season

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved baking. When I was ten, I started my own baking business at home called Madison's Neighborhood Bakery. As the name suggests, I started out baking for my neighbors. Soon, family members began to order and they told others about my baked goods and God graciously kept the orders coming. I sold homemade bread and cookies when I first started but then went on to make fruit filled scones and pumpkin scones as well.  Though It was tiring somedays when I would be baking all day to fulfill the orders, I loved it; I was making people happy, eating the leftovers with my family, and earning money at the same time!  :D Thank you to all my family members for generously buying my baked goods and for kindly supporting me!

A few years ago, my Mom and older sister were diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which means they are allergic to gluten which is a protein commonly found in rye, wheat, and barley. So we started having to bake with different types of flour such as rice flour, corn flour, and buckwheat flour, which makes for a different consistency than what we were used to.  I stopped my baking business because I couldn't bake with wheat flour anymore and now we bake every once in a while each time being an experiment.

Apple pies are good every time of the year but especially good in the fall when the apples are in season. I love baking apple pies in the fall. Last week, my sister and I made the first apple pie of the season, a gluten free pie to be exact. We weren't brave enough to make our own dough, due to the fact that we had guests coming over, so we used a ready made gluten free dough. Hopefully we will have time to come up with our own soon though. :D Anyway, It was delicous!

Here is the recipe:

 Ingredients:
8 apples ( 4 granny smith and 4 fuji)
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of sucanat sugar
1/3 cup of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of gluten free flour blend (or rice flour)
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 gluten free pie crust (we used the one from Whole Foods)


1.   Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position. Place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack and heat the oven to 500 degrees.  Toss the apples with the sucanat and maple syrup, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and spices, and then set it aside.

2.   Roll out the top crust to a 12" circle.  Spread the apples in the unbaked pie crust bottom, mounding them slightly in the middle (make sure to add in all the sugary juices from the bottom of the bowl).  Lay the top crust over the apples, seal and crimp the eges, and cut four vent holes in the top.  Brush the crust with the egg white and sprinkle with 1 Tb. of sucanat.
3.   Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees.  Bake until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes.  Rotate the baking sheet, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees, and continue to bake until the juices are bubbling and the crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes longer.  Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.