There are recipes galore for gluten-free pie crust (after all, pie crusts don’t need to be leavened thus eliminating many of the difficulties gluten-free baking presents) but all of these share one common problem: they call for several hard-to-find ingredients, thus making a simple pie crust difficult.

However, there is one way to make gluten-free pie crusts as easy as, well, pie. How? By using gluten-free oats (not regular oats, but those that are certified gluten-free), which are tolerated by many people who have celiac disease.

Will using oats yield a traditional, flakey pie crust? Not quite. But it can yield a gorgeous cookie-crumb-style crust that’s fantastic for sweet dessert pies.

Making the crust is simple. All you need to do is substitute all purpose flour in your favourite pie crust recipe with an equal amount of gluten-free oat flour, which can be made at home by grinding gluten-free oats into flour in a coffee grinder. Prepare your pie crust as you normally would, but press it into the pie dish instead of rolling it for more ease.

*Make sure to note that the oat flour will take a quite a bit longer to absorb the liquid than wheat flour, but when it does start absorbing liquid, it can dry out quickly, so keep it covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator.

That’s it! The super simple, easy way to make a gluten-free pie crust.