Homemade Apple Pie: Gluten, Nut, Dairy, & Egg FREE #Recipe

"I started singing, bye bye Miss American Pie..."
"Bye bye" because this Homemade Apple Pie was gobbled up as soon as that knife hit it!
I was thrilled to have family in town last weekend from Indiana- My sister, grandmother, and aunt. They were staying by my folks house, and my younger brother's birthday happened just days prior. I knew we were going to be having a mini-celebration since everyone was here. 
Celebration means one thing to me: Dessert! 
I love baking up allergy friendly goodies for Little Miss and have no problems bringing our own to events. I get even more joy out of trying something new and when they pass the test of others, not ever knowing it's gluten free! What's even greater? This pie is also nut free, dairy free, & egg free. Boom.

I think pies can be one of those intimidating things. We know that they "take time" to make the dough, prepare the filling, careful not to rip the crust, crimp the edges, make it "perdy", then pray you don't burn it (or undercook it) while baking.
Trust me, I get it. I always thought the same thing too. Easier to buy one premade. 
Let me tell you though... Nothing compares to homemade!

I made my first ever homemade pie last fall. For Thanksgiving. I was determined to not let it go buy without Little Miss getting her beloved Pumpkin Pie. No gluten intolerance would stop me!
I've only got the hang of it and a better feel for pie dough recipes since also tackling our Mini Pies and Homemade Pop Tart recipes. It has helped make the process less intimidating, that's for sure.

What I love about this recipe is its adaptability. Here I've made it with an organic apple filling, but you can use anything you want.
I also chose a fun star design for the top. I joke that it's because I'm handier with a cookie cutter than rolling out a perfect top and making perfect edge. I joke, but I'm actually serious. lol
I debated whether to use my mini star, heart, or flower cutter. We opt'd for star since it had just been July 4 only one day prior and I absolutely love the way it turned out.
Look for future pies though from KeeleyMcGuire.com with more fun shapes and fillings though!

The only bad part was I made the pie on Friday and was bringing it mid-morning on the mini road trip to my folks house for the family get-together. That meant I had to smell and stare at it until then. 
Do you even know what kind of torture that was!?! Horrible. It made me wish I had made two of them. lol
In the end, there was only a small single piece left after the gathering Saturday. Perfect! Because Little Miss and I shared it for snack on Sunday after church, hehehe. 
I was worried it might be too sweet, but everyone said it was just perfect! Not too much, not too little. The crust was just the right thickness too. I don't like super bready pies, bleh! The apple filling should be the star of the show! 
Star... get it? Do you see what I did there? ;) 

Ingredients
Pie Dough

• 1.5 cups of gluten free flour + extra for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of xantham gum (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of all-spice (you could also use nutmeg)
• 2 Tablespoons of sugar
• 1 stick of cold vegan buttery sticks, cut up into 1/4" cubes  (*note: I used Earth Balance brand. It's important that it be cold when you do this.)
• 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce
• 4 - 6 Tablespoons* of ice cold water (I used five. Careful not to use too much or dough will become 'mushy'.)

Filling

• 8-9 apples (I used 9 organic Fuji apples. Granny Smith or Rome also will work well.)
• 4 Tablespoons of cold vegan butter 
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of all-spice
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of gluten free flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/8 cup of lemon juice

Directions

1. Stir dry ingredients for pie dough into a large bowl.
2. Using your fingers, work the vegan butter and applesauce into the flour until it becomes a crumbled texture. 
3. Add 4 Tablespoons of ice cold water and combine by hand until water is absorbed. 
4. Add up to 2 more Tablespoons of water until a smooth dough ball can be formed (it took me 5 Tablespoonfuls total). Be careful not to over-mix the dough.
5. Dough will need split into two pieces before chilling. Take about 1/3 of the dough and this piece will be used for the top. The remainder is for your bottom crust.
6. Wrap each dough piece in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
7. While dough is chilling, prepare filling - Core, peel, and slice apples. Slices should be 1/8" to 1/4" thick.
8. Mix slices with dry ingredients in a large bowl - cinnamon, all spice, sugar, and flour.
9. Add vegan butter, vanilla, and lemon juice. Mix again until well combined. 
10. After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees (if using a dark pan - use 375 if using glass) and lightly grease pie pan.
11. On a floured surface, roll out your dough into a circular piece for the bottom crust until it's about 1/8" thick.
12. Press dough into pie pan. Bring it up the sides and just enough up over the edge. Trim edges where needed.
13. Begin stacking and placing apple slices into the crusts. It will be high as they will cook down. Pour remaining juice in bottom of bowl over the apples when done.
14. Roll out second dough piece until it's approx 1/8" thick. Choose mini cutter of choice, in this case a star, and begin layering and placing them over top the apple in your pattern of choice until filled. You may need to re-form and roll out dough again to cut additional pieces.
15. If you can tolerate eggs, do a simple egg wash over the top using a whisked egg + 1 TB of water. In our case, to keep it egg free, I used a simple wash of just plain rice milk over top. 
16. Optional: After the "wash" of rice milk, I sprinkled additional cinnamon and brown sugar over the top of the pie. 
17. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool before serving.