Freeze Dried Lemon-Berry Pie! No Need to Rehydrate to Enjoy this on the Trail!

Wow. This pie is just wow! We often eat dessert on the trail, but it’s usually just a few pieces of candy (Swedish Fish are our top-pick on the trail). Or, when we’re feeling really fancy, we use cold water and powdered oat milk to whip up trail pudding. But that might have to change now that we’ve discovered freeze dried pie! You can eat it dry, which makes it as easy to enjoy as candy, or it can be rehydrated back into a moist pie. If you have a freeze dryer, this pie is really easy to make and tastes AMAZING!

Note – this recipe is low in sugar. Food with a super-high sugar concentration doesn’t always work in the freeze dryer. We once experimented with Cafe Dalgona, which is 50% sugar… it exploded inside our freeze dryer and made a huge mess.

Ingredients (Makes 6 servings):

For the crust (optional):

1.5 C flour
0.5 C vegetable shortening
3/4 tsp salt

For the filling:

1/2 C freshly-squeezed lemon juice (about 4 large lemons)
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 15 oz can coconut milk
1/4 C corn starch
1/4 C water

Topping:

Assorted berries (we used blueberries and raspberries, but this is chef’s choice!)

Preparation

First, make the crust:

Preheat oven to 400ºF (205ºC).
Mix flour, salt an a large bowl, then add shortening.
Use a hand-held dough blender to combine everything and break into pea-sized pieces.
Add water and form into a ball. Start with 2 Tbsp, and only add the third if needed. If using, add slowly to ensure it doesn’t become too wet. The final dough should feel dry to the touch, not sticky.
Divide in half into two balls. Use a rolling pin on a smooth, dry surface to make crust-sized pancakes.
Transfer to pie tins by folding in half, lifting, and then unfolding. Folding makes the crusts less likely to rip while moving. Make your pie crusts short so that they fit on freeze dryer-shelves.
Bake for 8 minutes, until lightly browned.
Set out to cool before starting on the crust.

Next, make the filling:

Cut lemons in halves or quarters and squeeze to extract juice.
Combine with maple syrup, coconut milk, and turmeric, and stir to distribute.
In a medium saucepan, bring to a low boil over low-medium heat.
While heating, combine corn starch and water and mix thoroughly.
As soon as the lemon mixture is boiling, add the corn starch slurry. Everything will begin to thicken immediately.
Keep on low heat until it’s a little bit thinner than pudding/apple sauce (see video for reference).
Turn off the heat, and pour the filling into one of the pie crusts (still in its tin). The second crust is for your next pie — freeze it if you aren’t making one right away. If there’s extra filling, there probably isn’t enough to make two pies. Pour the excess into a few small bowls for crustless-pies to that can be the chef’s treat!

Final steps:

Cover and put the pie (plus any extra filling) in the refrigerator overnight (or for 12+ hours) to chill.
A few hours after beginning the chill, add your berries on top.
After completing the chill, your pie should be firm and hold its shape.
Cut into small slices and place on freeze dryer trays. Optionally, pre-freeze the pie, or just put it straight into your freeze dryer for one cycle on your normal settings.
Once the freeze drying cycle is completed, immediately package into Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber placed in each. If stored like this, the pie should remain delicious for 25 years!