The good news. The bad news.

There's no way to sugarcoat this. 

 I have found a wonderful gluten-free pastry recipe.

Yes, it's both good news and bad news.  Before I stumbled upon this amazing combination of most edible ingredients, I had the excuse (and the weight loss to support) not to ever eat another piece of pie.  *Sob*  Yet, faced with the prospect of Christmas traditions falling willy-nilly by the wayside, I just had to make a mincemeat pie.  H.A.D. to.  I did lots of research and this is what I came up with:

Gluten Free Mama Almond Blend Flour and Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pastry Recipe.  The mincemeat was mine - canned three years ago and almost forgotten in a corner of my canning cupboard.  As part of my resolve to get organized and work/eat my way through my voluminous canned stores, I found four pints of mincemeat.  And it was darned good, too! 

(The link to the Bob's Recipe site is down temporarily, so here it is, with my changes)

Easy as Pie Crust (Gluten Free)*

1-1/2 Cups GF All Purpose Flour (I used GF Mama Almond Blend)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Margarine (I used Earth Balance Shortening)
4 Tablespoons cold milk

The recipe directs you to cut fat into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter.  I am too impatient for that.  I put the dry ingredients into the food processor, pulsed it a few times, then added the cold shortening cut into cubes, pulsed it until it was crumbly, with some pea-sized pieces of shortening.  Then I sprinkled the cold milk on top and pulsed until it clumped together.  I gathered it into a loose ball and rolled it out between two pieces of waxed paper. 

To bake the pie crust alone, bake at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.  With pie filling, bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F for an additional 40 minutes.  Be careful to check the edges of the crust for over-browning and cover with foil if it gets too brown too fast.

*The recipe is for a single crust - I doubled it with no problem, although I did have to add more milk - about a half cup, plus two tablespoons.

I apologize for not having taken a picture.  By the time I thought about it, dinner was over and the remaining pie had been divided up between my parents and guest.  I am very well acquainted with my total lack of self-control - I cannot be trusted alone with pie.  And now I have to try to ignore the soft, pleading whispers from my two four-pound bags of GFM's Almond Blend beckoning me from the freezer - "Make More Pie.  Make More Pie".  LALALALALALA.