Thursday, September 8, 2016

Plumberry Pie

I am not a lover of pies. In fact, I have been known to refer to pie as the liver of desserts. As a kid I'd always choose cake over pie; as an adult I went completely off cake and now cookies are my favorite dessert. I mean, what's not to like about the huge variety, not to mention portability? No way, for example, could you slip a piece of pie into your purse to nosh on later. No.

For whatever reason, I could not stop thinking about pie, and wondering how a plum pie would taste. My mother used to make a lot of plum pies, often as holiday gifts. Everyone loved them. The very thought, back then, made me recoil, because, to me, a plum was just a young prune. Ew. This season, though, I have been enjoying the sweet juicy goodness of plums, so on a whim, made a pie. I tossed in a pint of blueberries for color and, truth be told, because I thought their days were numbered, and topped it with streusel because my big objection to pies is the crust overkill. A bottom crust is enough, the top needs something fancy.

Here is thee result. It is amazingly good, even to a confirmed pie hater like me, and that's saying something!

Plumberry Pie

2 1-lb. pkgs. Melissa’s Organic Plum Bites, pitted and quartered
1 pint organic blueberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 single pie crust, purchased or homemade

Topping

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

¼ cup butter, diced

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Make streusel: In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork or stand mixer just until the topping is crumbly; set aside. (You can also toss everything into a food processor and pulse until, as my grandmother used to say, "It looks right." This is what I did.)

Place your pie crust (purchased or home made) into a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie plate. Put a foil-lined large baking sheet in lower third of oven.

Toss plums and blueberries with sugar, tapioca, cornstarch, zests, spices, and salt in a large bowl; mound filling in shell. Crumble streusel evenly over filling.

Bake pie until streusel is golden and filling is bubbling, 1¼ to 1½ hours. Cool completely, 3 to 4 hours.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Plumberry Pie

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