Gluten-free "Not Fried" Pies

While coming up with a gluten-free peach cobbler recipe, my mom decided to fold the dough over some peachy goodness and stick it in the oven to see how it worked. The dough turned out to be a little hard to maneuver than she liked, but the end result was delicious!

If you want to try it for yourself, here is the recipe and her "how-to." If you come up with a better way to form the pockets, please let us know!

Peachie Pie Fold-overs

Working with dough can be hard, but working with gluten-free dough takes a little more patience. We used plastic wrap to roll out the pieces and chilled the dough to help make the gluten-free dough more workable.

3/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons sugar
(+ at least 1/4 cup extra potato starch or corn starch for rolling out dough)
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cups milk (Add 1/3 cup and then a tablespoon at a time until dough is workable. All of the milk may not be used.) (Buttermilk or almond milk may be substituted.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, add 3/4 cup potato starch, glutinous rice flour, sorghum flour, baking powder, 1 tablespoon corn starch, xanthan gum, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender. Add 1/3 cup of the milk and mix. Slowly add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until dough is workable. Chill for 1/2 hour. While dough is chilling, cook the filling. Remove from the refrigerator and cut into 8 equal pieces. On a sheet of plastic wrap place on the counter, add a little of the potato starch (or corn starch). Take one of the 8 dough pieces and pat it until it is thin. Transfer onto cookie sheet. Put a heaping tablespoon of the cooked peach filling into the center of the pressed-out dough. Fold it over and use a fork dipped into the potato or corn starch and press edges down. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until pies become browned. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from the baking sheet. Allow to cool. Makes 8 servings.

Filling

Potato starch or tapioca starch can be substituted for the corn starch. Fresh peaches sprinkled with ascorbic acid can be used instead of the frozen ones. The ascorbic acid is used so that the peaches don't turn brown. It is optional.

1 16-ounce package frozen peaches with ascorbic acid
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch

Pour frozen peaches into a saucepan and allow to partially thaw. Cut into bite-size chunks. Add sugar and corn starch and stir to mix. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until mixture cooks and thickens. Filling is ready to put into the dough shells. Makes enough to fill 8 pies.