Mini Chocolate Chess Pies

Last November, I saw a recipe for Chocolate Chess Pie on I'm a Celiac's blog.  I was amazed at how easy it was to make, and it was so delicious, I made it once a week for at least 6 weeks, and even included it as part of our Thanksgiving feast.  

The recipe calls for 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate.  I usually use Guittard Real Semisweet Chocolate Chips that I purchase from The Fresh Market.  They are labeled gluten free.

I have also experimented with Dagoba semisweet and unsweetened chocolate in this recipe, using one ounce of each.  Dagoba, like Guittard, is labeled gluten free, and I purchase it from The Fresh Market.

Like Pam Jordan from I'm a Celiac, I use Whole Foods GlutenFree Bakehouse Pie Crust.  It's perfect for quickly making Chocolate Chess Pie or my Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie.

With my kitchen scale, I don't even need to get out a measuring cup for my sugar.

It's also helpful for measuring 2 ounces of chocolate.  

When making a full size pie, it will look like there is not enough filling when you fill your pie shell.  

The filling does puff up as the pie bakes, especially when I use extra large eggs.  

When I was sent a sample of Grandma's House Gluten Free Pie Crust, I had to make chocolate chess pie with it.  We do have a slight addiction to this pie.  :-)

Yesterday, I finally made mini chocolate chess pies, a version I have been wanting to make for a couple of months.  I used Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix, the mix I use for my peach, raspberry, and apple crostata.  This piecrust mix is amazing!  Not only does it taste like a buttery wheat filled pie crust, but it is so easy to work with.  

I only used one of the packets of piecrust mix in the box. I put it in my mixer, added 1 stick of cold unsalted butter (cut into cubes), 3 tablespoons of ice water, and 1 egg large egg yolk, then mixed it until the dough came together.  It only took a couple of minutes to prepare.  I then weighed my dough, divided the weight by eight because I was making eight mini pies, and portioned out 48 gram little dough balls.  I didn't even grease my muffin pans.  

After rolling each lump of dough into a ball, I flattened them with my hands until they were larger than the opening of the muffin cup.  I then pressed and shaped each crust, not allowing it to come above the top of the muffin cup.  

The dough was incredibly easy to work with.  I didn't use any of the extra flour provided with the Williams-Sonoma Piecrust Mix for the purpose of rolling the dough.  

I filled each pie up to the top with the chocolate mixture.  I had a little bit left over, so next time, I am considering making 9 pies.  

I have noticed that when I use extra large eggs, the pie puffs up more.  It really isn't necessary with how much filling I had leftover, so I will be using large eggs the next time I make mini chocolate chess pies.  

Here's the finished product.  I allowed the pies to cool for about 15 minutes in my muffin pans, the removed them to finish cooling on a plate before putting them in the refrigerator.  I was impressed with how easily they lifted out of the muffin pans.  My husband, daughters, parents, and aunt & uncle all said they loved the mini chocolate chess pie last night.  My aunt said she couldn't believe it was gluten free.

Mini Chocolate Chess Pies

Ingredients

1 recipe of gluten free pie crust (enough for a single-crust pie) -- prepared
1 stick (8T) unsalted butter
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and chocolate over medium heat, stirring well to combine, then remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Slowly add the melted chocolate mixture, whisking well with each addition.

Make your pie crust and divide it between 8 muffin cups.  Press the dough into each muffin cup, not allowing it to come up over the edge.  Fill each crust with the pie filling and bake for 28 minutes in the center of your oven.  Allow the pies to cool for about 15 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a plate.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Recipe Notes

We like to chill our chocolate chess pie for a couple of hours in the refrigerator before eating it.  I take it out of the fridge when we sit down to dinner, and it is the perfect temperature for us when we eat it about 20 minutes later.

If you are making a full pie in a single pie crust, it needs to bake for 35 minutes.  When I use a frozen Whole Foods GlutenFree Bakehouse Pie Crust, I put it in the oven for 2 minutes to defrost it a bit before filling it.  Most of the Whole Foods pie crusts have cracks in them, but after heating it, they are easy to fix by just pressing the pie crust back together.

I have successfully made this recipe with extra large eggs and/or  half semisweet and half unsweetened chocolate.  We have loved it every time, no matter what ingredients I have used.

Many thanks to Pam Jordan of I'm a Celiac for posting this recipe from The Angus Barn in Raleigh, NC.  You can view Pam's Chocolate Chess Pie blog post here.

Linked to: Gluten-Free Wednesdays 

Gluten Free Thanksgiving and Fall Favorites

Just let me start off by saying that I love Thanksgiving, and I love the fall.  I always get a little homesick for my hometown in September, as my Facebook friends from Pittsburgh start to post pictures of changing leaves, while I am waiting for 90 degree days to go away.  I look forward to my Thanksgiving dinner more than any meal my family prepares.  When I was diagnosed with celiac, I didn't have to worry about what I was going to eat on Thanksgiving.  That first year, we traveled to Pittsburgh to my aunt and uncle's house, and all my favorites were prepared gluten free for me.  There were no worries with the kosher turkey and mashed potatoes, and my aunt made the stuffing and creamy pumpkin pie with gluten free cornbread, bread, and pie crust.  My family rocks! 

My husband and I have now taken over the duty of preparing my family's Thanksgiving feast.  We have stuck with the family tradition of buying a kosher turkey, which we purchase from Whole Foods.  They are already pre-brined, and they never disappoint.  

My husband smokes our turkey on his Big Green Egg.  We either rub a mix of extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and coarse ground black pepper on top of the skin, or use herb butter on top of and underneath the skin.  

Our smoked turkies are not pretty to look at when they are done, but they are always delicious!  

Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without stuffing.  I make a gluten free version of the cornbread stuffing that I grew up with, though we don't put it in the bird, because that is a big no-no when you are smoking your turkey.  You can view the recipe here. 

On Thanksgiving, I make garlic mashed potatoes.  We peel and cut 5 pounds of organic Yukon Gold potatoes into cubes, and boil them until fork tender.  When they are done cooking, I put them in our stand mixer with a bulb and a half of roasted garlic, 1 stick of salted butter, warm lowfat milk to taste, and 2 teaspoons of kosher salt.  

To roast the garlic, preheat your oven to 400 degrees, cut off the tops, drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil, wrap them up in aluminum foil, and cook until tender/mashable, for about 50 minutes.  

All the ladies in my family are Williams-Sonoma addicts.  They have been buying Williams-Sonoma Gravy Base and Apple-Orange Cranberry Relish for probably as long as they have been available.  Neither product contains any gluten ingredients, but the labels clearly state that these products are prepared and packaged using machines that may come in contact with wheat/gluten.  I don't eat gravy, so this is no big deal to me.  This year, I made a homemade Cranberry Relish that has similar ingredients to the relish my family buys from Williams-Sonoma.  You can view the recipe here.  I chose this recipe because of its ingredients and all the positive reviews.  

This cranberry relish recipe was a huge hit with the adults in my family, and only contains four ingredients - 2 cups of fresh cranberries, 2 organic Granny Smith apples, 1 large organic navel orange, and 1 cup of sugar.  I prepared it in my food processor, pulsing each ingredient separately. 

November 2017 Update - Last year, I made Merlot Apple-Orange Cranberry Relish, the first cranberry relish dish that my daughters have ever liked.  You can view the recipe here. 

For most of my life, I ate apple pie on Thanksgiving because I didn't like pumpkin pie, but then my aunt made a pumpkin pie recipe with cream cheese.  For years, this was the only dessert I made on Thanksgiving.  You can view this amazingly light and delicious recipe for Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie here.  

I recently made Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars, using my Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie filling and Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix.  My family really loved this version, and I didn't have to worry about my crust browning too much.  The recipe is at the end of my Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie blog post.  You can view it here. 

This year, I made my aunt an apple crostata for dessert.  This free form pie is one of our favorite fall recipes.

The third pie I made is this Chocolate Chess Pie.  It is easy to make, and so incredibly delicious.  I use a Whole Foods Bakehouse GlutenFree Pie Crust, or I make mini chocolate chess pies with Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix.  You can view these recipes here.  

Another great dessert option is gluten free pumpkin cupcakes.  They are moist and delicious, and so easy to make.  

For Thanksgiving breakfast, I might make gluten free Spiced Pumpkin Scones.  They are heavenly! You can view the recipe here.

November 2017 Update - We recently started making apple scones, which my husband said rival my pumpkin scones. 



Another easy breakfast option is my pumpkin waffles made with Cup4Cup Pancake & Waffle Mix.



We have also been loving pumpkin pancakes made with Trader Joe's Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancake Mix.  They are so delicious with some cinnamon honey butter.

If I wasn't so obsessed with Spiced Pumpkin Scones this fall, I would probably be making Apple-Raspberry Puffed Pancake on Thanksgiving for breakfast.  This recipe has been a family favorite of our for years.  Make sure you use a high quality gluten free flour.  Cup4Cup makes this oven pancake puff up much better than any other gluten free all-purpose flour that I have tried.  It can be purchased at Williams-Sonoma, The Fresh Market, or select Whole Foods.

About a month ago, I made Nicole Hunn's Apple Breakfast Cookies recipe.  I froze all the leftovers so we would have some quick breakfast options during the work and school week.  I made this Gluten Free on a Shoestring recipe with Better Batter Gluten Free Flour.  The combination of apples, cinnamon, and oats is perfect on a Fall morning.  You can view her recipe here.  

Acorn Squash with Apples & Cranberries would be a great dish to serve on Thanksgiving, but I already have too much going on, so I make them for my aunt and uncle earlier in the week.  They fly in from Pittsburgh to stay with us now, instead of us going to them.  You can view the recipe here. 

Sweet Potato Pineapple Casserole would be another great choice for Thanksgiving, but in my quest to keep my sanity, I limit the number of dishes I make.  You can view this recipe here. 

Just this week, I made a recipe for Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls by Shauna Ahern, also known as Gluten-Free Girl.  The yeasty smell and taste reminded me of Mitch's grandmother's bread. They were so good!  You can see all my baking tips and a link to the recipe here. 

For the day after Thanksgiving, when you are recovering from your food hangover, I recommend making one of my favorite fall smoothies, like the Blueberry Pomegranate.  

Another great option is my Persimmon Orange Smoothie.  

My Cranberry, Orange, Banana Smoothie is amazing too!  

If you want to take your Thanksgiving leftovers to an all new level, buy a panini press.  I like cranberry relish, stuffing, and turkey on my panini.  Family members have been known to pile on leftover mashed potatoes and gravy too.  You could use store-bought bread, but I made two flat 8" rounds using Gluten-Free Girl's Dinner Rolls Recipe.  You can see how I made the bread here.  

I like to heat my cranberry relish, stuffing, and leftover turkey to room temp before added them to my bread.  A couple minutes in the panini press, and you can see the results above.  It was so incredibly delicious!  My daughters enjoyed their panini with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and turkey. 

November 30, 2014 Update - This year, we made panini on Friday, and turkey noodle soup on Saturday with the rest of our leftover turkey.  The slight smokiness of the turkey was the key reason I liked this soup better than any chicken noodle soup I have ever had.

What are your favorite gluten free dishes to make on Thanksgiving?  

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie

For at least 30 years of my life, I did not eat pumpkin pie.  I didn't understand what people liked about it.  On Thanksgiving, my family made several desserts, so I would just eat apple pie, and bypass the pumpkin.  Then my aunt came home from Williams-Sonoma with a recipe for Creamy Pumpkin Pie.  She made it, I tried it, and it was love at first bite.

Who knew that adding cream cheese to pumpkin pie could make it so delicious!  I love that it is light and creamy, not heavy like a cheesecake.

Gluten Free Raspberry Crostata

We have been enjoying delicious gluten free Peach Crostata all summer. After making two of them while staying at my parents' house in Greenville, SC, my mom and dad mentioned that their favorite is raspberry crostata.  When my husband came home with two huge containers of raspberries from Costco, I decided to make this dessert to celebrate my family's first day back at school. 

Aren't they beautiful?  

Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix is worth the splurge.  It's easy to put together, easy to work with, and so delicious.  You can read my review here.  

I like that with this crostata, I don't have to cut any fruit.  

My raspberry crostata was just as delicious as the peach crostata I make.  It's too hard to pick a favorite!  

Gluten Free Raspberry Crostata

Ingredients

• Uncooked pie dough (I use Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix -- only one packet needed)
• 4 to 4 1/2 C of fresh raspberries
• 2 1/2 T sugar
• 2 T gluten free all-purpose flour (I use the dusting flour in the Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix box) plus more for dusting
• 1 T butter
• 1 egg -- beaten

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Combine raspberries, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flour in a large bowl, and stir gently
• Prepare one package of Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Piecrust Mix according to the directions on the package (you only need enough dough for a single-crust pie) -- you will need a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater, 1 stick of cold unsalted butter, 3 T of ice water, and 1 egg yolk 
• Place your dough ball on a piece of parchment paper that has been lightly dusted with the dusting flour included in the Piecrust Mix box.  Dust the top of your dough ball and your rolling pin with more flour, and roll out your pie crust until it's about 12-13 inches across.  
• Pour the raspberry mixture into the center of the pie crust, leaving about 2 inches around the edge.  Fold the edges of your pie crust over the filling, crimping them a bit.  
• Place the butter in the middle of your crostata, and brush the pie crust with the beaten egg  
• Transfer your crostata, still on the parchment paper, to a baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes in the lower 1/3 of your oven, until the pie crust is golden brown.  
• Serve warm, right out of the oven, or at room temp, if you can wait!  

May 14, 2014 Update

Today, I made a mixed berry crostata using raspberries and blackberries in about a 3 to 1 ratio.  

I increased the amount of sugar I use to 3 tablespoons because the blackberries were not very sweet.  My husband said it was so good, he could have eaten half of it.  He also raved about how amazing the crust was. 

You can view my peach crostata recipe here.  

Linked to: Gluten Free Wednesdays, Gluten-Free & DIY Tuesday