Conquering Irrational Fears

There’s one thing in the kitchen’s basic handbook that gives me panic attacks.

Pie crust.

Yeah, yeah.  Go ahead and laugh.  I’ll wait until you’re done.

Seriously, making pie crust was my culinary kryptonite.  If my life hinged on my ability to make an apple pie from scratch (without the assistance of a certain puffy little cartoon chef on a box of *gasp* pre-made pie dough) I would be slaughtered.  But, I think staring this challenge in the face has helped quell those fears.

This Thanksgiving I decided to make butter tarts, with a gluten-free tart shell.  Tell me where you can find tart shells that are gluten-free, tasty, and affordable in Austin?  My solution was Blackbird Bakery‘s pie and pastry blend.  The only hitch in my plan was having to prepare the crust for my tarts myself.

Karen Morgan, the genius that she is, took all the uncertainty out of pie crust made at home.  And it’s gluten-free to boot!  Bonus points for being non-GMO and tree nut free.

I used brown rice flour for dusting my pastry mat, which was coarser than the recommended glutinous rice flour (or sweet rice flour).  It did give a sable texture to the crust which was not rejected by anyone too busy to notice they were gluten-free because they were shoving a second helping in their mouths.

Mission complete!