Recipes
Use these recipes as guidelines. Try them out,
then make them your own. Use the provided tips + variations to fit your preferences or pack in the nutrition. Tweak them to suit your lifestyle or swap out ingredients to make them allergy-friendly. I’ve taken out the nutrient guesswork by adding whole food ingredients with extra vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants & omega-3s.
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How to Make Pie Crust with Healthier Fat, Whole Grains, Gluten-Free or Vegan
November 22, 2011 by Melanie Zook
Maybe your pie crust is just perfect the way it is. If so, enjoy every morsel of that piece of pie this Thanksgiving. But if you’re looking to tweak your pie crust recipe to make it a little healthier or allergy-friendly, read on. (Many of these tips are courtesy of Chef Kyle Shadix, MS, RD & author Roberta Duyff, MS, RD, FADA, CFCS.)
Fixing the Fat: A pie crust’s flakiness is usually due to vegetable shortening (full of trans fats) or saturated fat-laden animal fat or butter. Use trans fat free vegetable shortening instead, but you may need to add a little more flour. Or just replace half the fat with the trans fat free version.
Whole Grain How-To: Be sure to use whole wheat pastry flour. Not ready to go all whole wheat? Try replacing only half your flour with whole wheat. Duyff also suggests adding ground oats (substitute in a 1:1 ratio from some of the flour) to add tenderness & a nutty flavor.
Going Gluten-Free: Look for gluten-free store bought crusts or search for recipes using other flours. Here’s a gluten-free pie crust recipe using potato starch, tapioca & millet flours, and almond meal.
Vegans at your table? Look for a vegan margarine & an eggless recipe. This egg-free pie crust recipe is from Whole Foods.
Need a recipe for a healthier pie crust? This one from Serious Eats uses whole wheat pastry flour and butter instead of shortening.
