Organic, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Cherry Meringue Pie

My hubby wanted a cherry meringue pie for his birthday this year. Apparently he thinks highly of my cooking skills to request such a pie given our diet restrictions. Or he has no idea what ingredients you use to make one. At any rate, I started looking for a recipe. The only ones I could find called for "cherry pie filling", gross! So I decided just to "wing it" and see how it turned out.

I started with a gluten-free pie crust:

1 cup organic brown rice flour

1/3 cup Grapeseed Oil (Spectrum Organic Shortening works great too)

2 T cold water

1 tsp xanthan gum

Pinch of salt

Mix it all together in a small bowl, then press it into the 9" pie plate. 

Bake at 475 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until just turning light brown. 

Next:

Put 4 cups pitted cherries (I used Organic Dark Tart cherries that were frozen that I found at Costco)

2/3 cup of organic sugar

1/4 cup water

into a pan on the stove top on medium heat. 

Let it simmer for about 30 minutes, to fully break down the cherries and let the mixture reduce down. 

Add

2 teaspoons organic cornstarch

and stir for about 4 minutes while it is boiling. 

While the cherries are simmering, 

Stir together in a small pan

1/2 cup organic sugar 

4 teaspoons organic cornstarch

1/2 cup cold water

Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until it begins to boil. Boil for one minute (keep stirring) and then remove from heat. Put it straight into the freezer for 10 minutes so that it cools completely. 

The cherries should still be simmering so next use a large bowl and put in

4 organic egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp sea salt

Blend with hand mixer until soft peaks form. Then grab your cooled sugar cornstarch mixture from the freezer. Slowly add it into to the egg white mixture and keep mixing away with the beaters on high. 

Once you have stiff peaks (see picture above) you have officially made meringue! 

By now the cherries should have been done simmering and you can add the cornstarch (mentioned above) and finish it up. Spoon the hot cherries directly into the precooked pie crust. 

Then gently add the meringue on top, use the back of a large metal spoon to spread it around. Make sure the meringue is touching the pie crust on every side otherwise it will shrink up when you cook it. 

To get the little peaks on top, use the back of the metal spoon and gently touch it to the meringue and pull straight up. My gramma taught me this, plus then you don't have to spend a lot of time trying to smooth out the meringue and making it look "perfect"

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees F or until it is turning a beautiful golden brown. 

Remove carefully from the oven and let it cool for 2 hours in a non drafty place. Having air blowing on it or bouncing it around will cause the meringue to loose air inside and get deflated. 

Final step:

Find some friends (who are up for an experiment) and enjoy the pie together!

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup organic brown rice flour

1/3 cup Grapeseed Oil (Spectrum brand organic shortening works great too)

2 T cold water

1 tsp xanthan gum

Pinch of salt

Cherry Filling:

Put 4 cups pitted cherries (I used Organic Dark Tart cherries that were frozen that I found at Costco)

2/3 cup of organic sugar

1/4 cup water

Meringue:

1/2 cup organic sugar 

4 teaspoons organic cornstarch

1/2 cup cold water

4 organic egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp sea salt