When we published our first book back in 2009, we lacked access to great cameras, only possessing basic point and shoots; not to mention that neither of us had ever written a book or a blog.
Our early focus was primarily on improving our own health, that of our family and on perfecting the quality of our recipes and getting them, as quickly as possible, into the hands of those people we cared about most. We have grown as individuals and learned so much in these past three years, not only about gluten free living and our own journey towards greater health, but also about the process of writing and the art of photography. Now, having access to DSLRs, the art of staging our recipes has become almost as important as the recipes themselves.
Blueberries and nectarines – who can resist this unique and delicious combination. Today being the final TWD Challenge for the month of July, we looked forward to giving this recipe a try since it was announced several weeks ago.
Quintessential summer fruits, they are both in season right now and easy to find locally. But what about winter? After tasting this pie, everyone loved it so much, we will have to plan on freezing some nectarines so we have them readily available during the cooler months of the year.
As far as the recipe goes, we naturally had to adapt the crust to fit our gluten free needs and decided the easiest way to do this would be to swap out our own gluten free pie crust recipe.
If you are looking for Julia’s original recipe, please check out the blogs of today’s hosts, Hilary of Manchego’s Kitchen, and Liz of That Skinny Chick can Bake. You can also check out other participants’ contributions to this challenge over at TWD.
The other changes we made to the recipe, included reducing the amount of sugar (we used organic evaporated cane juice), and using arrowroot starch in place of flour to thicken the cooked part of the filling.
One of the unique elements of this recipe is the addition of lemon zest to the fruit filling. The amalgam of flavors, combining the sweet summer fruits with the tart citrus, is unexpected and brings a surprising and welcome depth to this dessert. We unhesitatingly encourage you to give this recipe a try. Pies are always a welcome dessert in our house, and this unique filling certainly stands out from the rest.
gfcelebration 
Never thought of nectarine pie – what a great idea.
Thanks for sharing.
The filling for this pie could also be enjoyed just by itself. Please note, that we reduced the amount of sugar by half, from the original recipe. We also never use white sugar. It is quite a delicious combination of flavors and quite unexpected.
i like all your gluten free changes that you ahve made!! beautiful!
Glad you liked it. Thanks for visiting.
Nice photos! I think sticking to a g-f recipe you trust was a good idea. This dough was a little fiddly as written. I’m sure that converting it would have been even more fiddly.
Since we are a gluten free site, by necessity, we are developing all our recipes to be gluten free ones. The original recipe, as written in Dorie’s book, would have been nearly impossible to convert into a gf version (too much fat and just too many liquids). We also did not like the use of any shortening. We have used our own trusted gf crust recipe for a number of years, and it works without fail every time, for any type of pie, or even quiche. At the end, it always comes down to optimal nutrition gained, and the harmony of flavor and taste. Glad you liked it. 🙂
The color of your gluten-free pie crust is just wonderful and the pie looks delicious – I am intrigued by the changes that you are always able to make to all these recipes. Nice photography!
Having to live gluten free has taught us to be innovative. That is part of the fun of participating in TWD – the challenge of adapting and creating a true gluten free replacement, without compromising on taste or appearance. Naturally, it is also fun to highlight our successes with our photography – which we are steadily working on improving. Finally having a DSLR is so much fun.
What kind of flour did you use for the crust? It looks great in the photos 🙂 Glad that you enjoyed the unique filling pie!
Thanks for stopping by. We used our own gluten free pie crust recipe, which we developed a long time ago. It primarily consists of a tapioca/rice flour blend. Many of the commercial gf-blends do not work for us, due to a number of other allergies. Everyone loved this pie. The filling really is to die for.