Almond Flour Pie Crust (gluten-free)

Greasing the pan is not necessary when baking traditional wheat flour crusts. When baking with nut flours, I highly recommend it--or line the pan with parchment. The following crust tastes delicious straight out of the oven, but I like it even more on the second day. Wrapped tightly and refrigerated, this crust will maintain its freshness for one week.

Yield: 1 pie crust

Ingredients

2 cups (225 grams) blanched almond flour (almond meal–which often has bits of the dark brown skins in it–works but makes a heartier, more rustic crust)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (optional; omit for a savory crust)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil (chilled briefly to firm up, if necessary; may substitute cold butter)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (optional; omit for savory crust)

Grease a 9-inch pie dish very well, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a food processor and pulse several times.
Add the egg and vanilla, and then scatter small pieces of coconut oil over top. Pulse until the mixture forms a ball.
Press the dough evenly into a 9-inch pie dish, working the dough all the way up the sides. (For added ease, I like to press the dough ball into a flat disc first.)
With a fork, prick the crust several times over the bottom and sides, and then bake for 8-12 minutes. If you are baking again with a filling, bake the crust until the bottom is just dry. If you are adding a filling that does not require further baking, bake until the crust is lightly golden around the edges.

When using this crust recipe with a filling that requires a second baking, I recommend a “crust protector” as crusts that include nut flours tend to brown much more quickly than standard all-purpose flour crusts. To fashion your own crust protector, simply fold a 12-inch square of foil into quarters. Cut a 7-inch hole out of the center. Unfold and loosely mold the foil over the edges of the pie. If the foil is too close to the filling, trim so that it does not touch. Keep this on the crust edges for the entire baking time.