GF, DF, Low Sugar Lemon Pie with Coconut Crust

This lemon pie is simply scrumptious. The crust is made with delicate coconut flour, filled with meyer lemon filling and topped with an agave meringue. OK, what you imagine now is true, it is that good. The mellow taste of meyer lemon which is a lemon brought in from China centuries ago has a hint of orange to offset the tart taste of lemon. When I find them in season, I buy as much as I can to squeeze and freeze to have all year round. If you don't have them in your area, you can try a 2 to 1 ratio of say 1 tbsp orange juice to 2 tbsp lemon jiice. This filling will only make a thin layer, if you like your fillings thicker, double the filling recipe.

This crust is mixed with walnut flour, coconut flour and coconut flakes. You can make your own walnut flour by grinding walnuts till powdery but not to a paste so watch carefully. It bakes up beautifully.

The meringue is made with low glycemic agave heated and poured in slowly like the way you would make a 7 minute icing.

Lemon Coconut Agave Pie

Crust

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup shredded coconut (flakes)

1/4 cup ground walnuts

2 eggs

2 TBSP coconut sugar or 1 TBSP agave

1/4 cup Earthblend non dairy butter, softened

Pinch salt

Mix ingredients together in bowl. Dough will form a ball. The dough should be handled carefully and rolled between two sheets of wax paper till the desired size is obtained. Remove one layer of wax paper and flip the second layer on top of the pie pan. (I actually place the pie pan over the layer then in one fell swoop quickly flip the crust on top the pan). Prick sides and center of pie with fork.

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Cool crust.

Filling

1/2 cup Meyer lemon

1/2 cup agave or coconut sugar*

1 tbsp regular lemon

Zest of one lemon

1 stick non dairy butter

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, 3 egg yolks

*Coconut sugar will bring a distinct coconut taste and darker color but is more difficult to find than agave.

Place lemon juice(regular and meyer), sugar or agave, zest, butter and salt in saucepan and heat on low till butter melts.

Combine eggs and egg yolks in bowl and stir.

Add 1/2 portion of lemon mix to eggs and stir quickly. Add all egg/lemon mixture to saucepan.

Heat and stir for 5 minutes till thick and coats back of metal spoon.

Strain and cool before pouring into pie pan.

Meringue

2 egg whites

1/2 cup light amber agave

Heat agave to simmer for about 7 minutes. In the interim, beat egg whites to stiff peaks, do not overbeat. Slowly pour in hot agave to beating egg whites. Whip a few more minutes till sugar is incorporated.

Pile on top of filled pie filling and bake in oven at 350 for about 4-6 minutes or until lightly browned.

Note: This pie may pool water at the bottom of the pie pan after a day in the refrigerator. Slowly pour out liquid if this happens. No worries. Meringue should stay nice and fluffy.

Easy Delicious GF, Non Dairy, Low Sugar Birthday Cake

Freezing your GF cakes are perfectly acceptable. While running my GF bakery this was common practice. Most GF foods keep very well in the freezer and therefore you always have a nice treat for that emergency birthday cake or dessert treat for a party. My favorite is this one made with your favorite GF cake (the one you made at 1 am when you couldn't sleep and froze 2 weeks before), a pack of Mimic Creme or Soy A Too whipped creme and a can of unsweetened fruit like peaches.

I mentioned Mimic Creme in an earlier blog posting. Made of cashews and nuts this low carbohydrate, low sugar alternative whips up to a stiff and thick creme. You can add more sweetener by whipping in agave syrup to taste. SoyAToo is a European product that is also non dairy and made with soy, an alternative for those of you allergic to nuts.

Simply whip your cream, strain your canned fruit and layer in your favorite cake.