As promised, there is more pie. 🙂 Last week, I made a blueberry pie with this flower like pattern, made with a small, circular cookie cutter. I’d never tried that before, but loved the way that it turned out, so I made another pie this week along the same lines. The filling also involved blueberries, but also plums and blackberries — very late summer-ish. Note the little heart with wings in the middle … it’s all in the details, eh?
Ingredients
for the pastry
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 black or red plums, pitted and1/4 inch dice
1 pint blackberries
1 pint blueberries (frozen ok)
pinch of salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 4 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon, fresh lemon juice
Pinch table salt
1 egg mixted with 2 tablespoons water, for egg wash
2-3 tablespoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using pulse function until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball; divide into 2 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill 2 hours. This can be done up to a few days ahead.
In the meantime, make your filling. In a medium sauce pan, heat oil until shimmering. Add plums and saute for a minute or two. Add sugar and pinch of salt. The plums should get soft and start to become juicy. Add blackberries and blueberries and simmer until very liquidy. Add spices, then the cornstarch slurry, stirring frequently as the juices thicken. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and set aside to cool. This can be done a day ahead of time.
Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400F.
Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter pie dish or tart pan. Fold edge under, forming high-standing rim; crimp. Add filling. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface. Using a 2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out enough mini-rounds to cover the surface of the pie (I needed about 50). Cover the entire surface of the filled pie, overlapping to create a fan pattern. Using a pasty brush, brush surface with the egg wash and sprinkle on sugar.
Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any juices if the pie overflows) and place in oven and bake pie 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375F. Continue baking until juices bubble thickly between the top rounds and crust is deep golden, covering edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour. Let pie cool a minimum of 2 hours before cutting. This is important as the pie filling will be pretty loose. If you want to serve warm pie, reheat pieces individually.
