So it’s August, which means peaches peaches peaches! ‘Nuff said. Gluten-Free Organic Peach Pie Pre-heat oven to 370 and turn on the tunes. Yesterday I was cranking old school Erykah Badu — “I need a rim shot, hey diggy diggy, a rim shot hey -come on”! For the crust:

• 2 1/2 cups Pamela’s Baking Mix
• 3 tbls. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tbls. light agave
• 5 tbls. sunflower (canola or safflower work well too) oil
• 3 tbls. ice water Mix the flour, butter and agave together in a large mixing bowl with a fork until the butter is the size of little peas in the mixture. You can use your fingers to help out. Then add the sunflower oil and ice water, and mix again. The crust should have a slightly doughier consistency than a wheat pie crust–it needs a little more liquid to help it hold together, since it doesn’t have gluten.Rolling out the crust can be tricky, for the same reason–no gluten, which is the thing that makes doughs hold and stretch and generally look pretty too. Lay a piece of wax paper on a flat surface, grab enough of the flour mixture to roll out a 9 inch crust (leave about 1/2 cup in the bowl–you’ll use this for the topping), and mold it into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper, and roll out slowly and evenly on all sides with a rolling pin until the crust is big enough to cover the pie plate. It doesn’t have to be exact, gluten-free baking hardly ever is, at least for me! Then, peel off the top layer of paper, lift the crust, invert it over and into the pie plate, and slowly peel off the remaining layer of paper. Some may stick, there may be broken pieces, no worries! The great thing about gluten-free baking is that you won’t make dough tough by messing with it and squeezing it back together. Hooray!

Okay, now stick the crust in the fridge and prepare the filling. For the filling:

• 7 or 8 large ripe peaches, washed, peeled, pitted, sliced
• 1/3 cup light agave
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. cinammon
• 1 tbls. corn starch or other thickener (ONLY if you must have it–I prefer juicy/runny to starchy..)

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into your pie shell. Making the topping with your leftover crust mixture, and add:

• 1/2 cup gluten-free oats
• 1 tbls. butter
• 1 1/2 tbls organic light brown sugar or agave if you can’t tolerate the brown sugar)
• 1/4 tsp. cinammon

Using your hands, sprinkle the topping liberally over the filling and pop in the oven. Bake for about 7 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for 30-40 minutes more, or until crust is nice and brown and the juices are bubbly. Don’t be afraid to throw a piece of tin foil over the pie halfway through, to keep the crust and topping from getting too dark. Done! Take it out, let it cool, serve plain or with ice cream of your choice–or grab a fork and eat it straight from the pan. This is summer! No rules! xox