This paleo American flag pie happened in an absolute whirlwind. I was in the car with my mom and Leo, headed to visit greatgrandma (or guh GAMAMA, as Leo pronounces it), reveling in the fact that I was “working” from my iPhone (You know, responding to Instagram comments? Yeah. Working.) taking a couple hours out of my day to visit with my gorgeous grandma and meet the hubs for lunch. Best job ever? And I started craving cherry pie. These things happen.
So I started writing a cherry pie recipe, and I told myself I’d just head to the store on the way back to “work” (Remember? Making food and taking pictures of it and posting self-deprecating comments on Facebook? Work.). But wait… isn’t Memorial Day kind of soon? What about… ohmygah. I absolutely have to make a paleo American flag pie. Like, will die without making a paleo American flag pie. HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THE PALEO AMERICAN FLAG PIE ALREADY TOO BUSY RESPONDING TO INSTAGRAM COMMENTS CHERYL STUPID STUPID GAH ^^^ That’s… kind of how it happened. Pretty close. So I spent the rest of our lunch frantically planning my paleo American flag pie slash paleo 4th of July pie, but for Memorial Day, too, of course, because #murica and then I sprinted to the grocery store and grabbed containers and containers of red and blue fruit and headed home, all pumped with pride for inevitably delicious outcome of incoming pie.
And yeah, disaster. The filling was completely liquid, the crust dissolved entirely, and it was just… beautiful but terrible? So I turned Test Kitchen mode up to 11. I woke up early the next morning and had test fillings with various amounts of thickeners portioned out in a cupcake tin, labeled with Post-It notes, diagrammed just in case I somehow got turned around. With the perfect filling recipe in hand, I tested a brand new crust recipe, essentially holding my breath the entire time because… pies are not frivolous things? They take a while and a decent amount of ingredients, and they’re so delicate and require such specific ratios and practices and I need to get this paleo 4th of July pie out on May 19th or else will die.
And somehow my job went from responding to Instagram comments to pie-related death threats in like 24 hours. But as I pinched off a piece of the crust and tasted the slightly flaky, crunchy crumb, as I lifted the first piece out of the pan and marveled at the perfectly formed filling, as I tasted the first bite and heard the angels emit a collective “AHHHH!” up above? Worth it. The resulting paleo 4th of July pie (slash anytime-patriotic pie) is fruity but buttery and a bit crunchy and tender. It’s beautiful and the absolute perfect paleo 4th of July pie, as well as a fabulous paleo American flag pie for Memorial Day, Labor Day, or Flag Day. Why settle for a “??” when you can have a ?
Note: This crust is delish, but it’s not going to behave or taste just like a buttery, gluteny crust. It’s a bit more delicate to work with but also more forgiving. What I used to make this paleo flag pie:
