Nothing says summer like a fruit pie, especially cherry pie, warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. But for me there is one not so tiny problem. The 425oF oven. It’s impossible to get around that aspect of summer pies, biscuits and shortcakes. But what you can do is get in and out as quickly as possible and I have a couple secret weapons that let you trick out store bought dough, pass it off as your own, and get back to the beach. Who doesn’t love that? Face it – while home-made crust is a fabulous nod to bygone days and an awesome salute to Gramma, with our 2016 lifestyle and in the dog days of summer, it’s a crime against the calendar. I hereby give you my permission to do this fast fix.
While the crust hacks are my own, this pie recipe is inspired by one of the late Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts. This book is one of my very few must haves and has to be one of the best baking reference books ever written… at least for home-style desserts which are not only my personal favorites, but also the style at New World Grill where I did most of the baking. I am super excited to find out that it is no longer out of print! For years it was only available used, but it has been reprinted and is here for the taking! Not just pies, but cobblers, puddings, dumplings, cakes, tarts, custards, frozen treats and more. Run! Run! Run!
One of the tricky things about fruit pies is how much thickening – usually cornstarch or tapioca – is enough but not too much. There are no easy answers here. It depends on the water content of the fruit, the ripeness, pectin etc. This generally is not a problem with fall fruits like apples, quince, figs, or pears. Food52 had a recent post on “the fickle mistress” of the pie world – fresh fruit. Their suggestions are a lot more time consuming than what I suggest here, but they are also more predictable. I would NOT follow my recipe if you were trying to use super high water-content fruit like raspberries or blackberries. They are …..like 87% water, 12% seeds and 1% fruit. (Source: my vivid imagination). Not good contenders. But this would work super well with peaches and a sprinkling of blueberries. Or cherries as I suggest here. Keep it to fruit with sturdy flesh and you will be fine.
I can’t think of cherry pie without thinking of my Grandmother who was often perched on the piano bench belting out a round of Can She Make a Cherry Pie, Billy Boy Billy Boy. No?? Nobody?? We didn’t actually grow up on cherry pies as a summer staple, but my Dad loved him some bings and spending time in Michigan during the summers, they were and are plentiful. Traverse City has an annual festival dedicated to cherries with races through the orchards, pie eating and pit spitting. The airport is Cherry Capital Airport. Fly right over the Leelanau Peninsula mid-summer and you will be amazed by the vision in bright red. For this pie, I used a combo of those pretty bright red tarts, along with sweet dark cherries and whites. Whenever I get them, I pit them immediately and freeze by color in ziplocks.
Now on to the inside secrets on how to trick out a ready-made crust and pass it as your own. These tricks work best for the pre-made dough that comes rolled up and is found in the dairy case, possibly sporting a chubby white guy with a chef toque. Some of these tips will help you jazz it up and some will help rid you of a soggy bottom. Nobody likes that!
Secrets for success:
Oven should be hot; pastry should be cold. Always 425oF for crusts.
Heat a pizza stone while you preheat.
Use a glass pie plate and butter it well.
Brush egg white on the inside of the raw bottom crust once you’ve laid it in the pie plate. Back to the fridge til its time to use this.
Brush the top crust with cream or half & half. Sprinkle with sugar
Lay a sheet of foil loosely on the top for the first 15 minutes of baking to help the fruit temperature rise more quickly.
Use a foil-lined (for the mess) sheet pan (to protect the glass on the pizza stone) under the pie.
Get the best vanilla ice cream – no point in cutting corners here!
Double Crust Three Cherry Pie
Dough for a double crust pie
6-7 cups of cherries, pitted (I like a combo of sweet and tart. If frozen, do not thaw)
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond extract (wonderful flavor for both cherries and peaches)
Preheat the oven to 425oF with a pizza stone placed on a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Butter a 9 1/2” deep dish glass pie plate.
Rollout (or unfold) dough for the bottom crust. Fit into the pie plate, leaving any overhang. Brush the inside of the crust with enough egg white to coat. Roll out the top crust. Refrigerate both crusts until you are ready to use them.
Combine the cherries with the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and almond extract.
Remove the top crust from the refrigerator and cut into 3/4” wide strips.
Remove the bottom crust from the refrigerator and fill with the cherries. If any sugar mixture has settled in the bowl, sprinkle evenly on top of the cherries. Brush the outside edge of the crust with the remaining egg white and lay half the strips evenly across the top in one direction. Weave the remaining strips cross-wise ”pot-holder style”. Press the ends into the bottom crust around the outer edge and trim excess. Flute or crimp the edges.
Dot the top of the pie with butter, brush the lattice with cream and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar.
Lay a piece of foil on top of the pie (not tightly wrapped and not tented). This will help the fruit heat up faster and keep the crust from starting to brown too quickly. Place the pie on a foil-lined sheet pan and set on the pizza stone. After 15 minutes, remove the top foil. Continue baking until the crust is golden and the fruit is thickened and bubbly. Keep an eye on the crust color and cover outside edge with foil cut into a ring or entirely, as needed to slow down the crust color while the fruit thickens. This will take about an additional 45 -50 minutes.
Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool thoroughly on a wire rack to thicken up completely. Cut it too early and you have a juice bomb. If you want to serve it warm, reheat it at serving time.
Serves 8 – 10
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Prosciutto Pesto Puffs!! Prosciutto Pesto Poppers?? Puffs or Poppers? Mmmmmm, I can kind of go either way. In support of Puffs, these tasty little morsels are light and puffy. But, don’t discount Poppers; the journey from cutting board to platter is anything but guaranteed – see Open Wide above. I say you get 3 dozen pieces, but do you??? What if you don’t? Who will know? Most importantly, this quick and easy app includes the four food groups (remember those?) – cheese and dough, pesto and pig. Riiiiiiiiight?? I know I had you at cheese and dough.
Ingredients you have on hand!
Who among you doesn’t have some version of those four things in-house at all times? Don’t make me come over there! I know by now I have cultivated at least some level of pantry-responsibility in you. Personally I am still working through pizza dough from last month’s Pizzapalooza/Bring Your Own Pizza Toppings pot lucky. I was so uber prepped that I ended up with another half dozen crusts in the freezer. But this dish disappears so quickly you can short cut my Trader Joe’s dough hack and just grab the poppin’ fresh variety at the grocery. It would be a crime against your calendar to make dough for this from scratch.
Pesto
And pesto…I’m just about at the end of the stash of Pistachio Lemon Pesto I put away last fall. But for this I used an arugula pepita pesto –Y.U.M. – that was a contribution to the pizza party. Any combo of greens and nuts or seeds will work. Just follow the basic proportions in this recipe. The sassier the better. And, of course, you will get more depth of flavor if you toast the nuts or seeds first. But if you are short-changed on time, supermarket pesto ain’t half bad. We’re on the clock, people! We got PopperPuffs to make.
Pig
Then there’s the pig – let’s just go straight for prosciutto and stop there. But of course you could use salami, ham, anything that is cooked or cured. Raw bacon would be a mess. Smoked turkey would be a delish sub, or roasted peppers and thoroughly drained spinach if you are vegetarian.
Cheese
Vegans however need not apply. This PopperPuff screams for cheese*. I met and love-@first-sight’d this dish about 8 years ago when my then 14-year old neighbor Allison whipped up a larger version, stromboli-like, and appeared for a boat ride with a hamper-full. All the adults were stunned. What? Is? This? Cheesy? Goodness? It’s possible I broke a bicep shoveling in the gooey slices. Ever since, we have called this (or any interpretation of) the Ali Roll. *If you have a vegan cheese that melts well, give it a try and keep me posted!
Making it Bite-Sized
It recently occurred to me that if you use the full width of pizza dough and make it more stromboli-like, it is a tad bit – don’t judge me on what I am about to say – too gooey. I know. I know. But more because the center stays a bit dough-y than that there is too much cheese. Heaven forbid! So for a Memorial Day app exchange – which had nothing to do with technology – I decided to whittle this down to bite-size, and the results were a crowd-pleaser. The pieces were also less daunting than a slice 4+ inches wide which is considered bite-size in fewer and fewer circles these days.
Versatile and Make Ahead for Prep Win
Feel free to swap out all the fillings. This dish is pretty indestructible. I haven’t tried it but am fairly certain you could make the logs and freeze them, then bake frozen. Or you could bake it off, slice and freeze in an airtight container. These are good warm-from-the-oven or at room temperature.
While not gourmet per se, this is squarely in the category my friend Cindy calls “People Love It”.
Prosciutto Pesto Puffs!! Who among you doesn’t have some version of these four things in-house at all times: pizza dough, pesto or other slather, cured meat and melty cheese. For this, we choose pesto, mozzarella and prosciutto. But, the possibilities are endless.
Ingredients
Scale
13.8 ounce can of classic pizza dough (or equivalent fresh dough)
2/3 cup pesto
1/2 pound prosciutto, thinly sliced, (includes a bit extra for snacking)
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella*
Good olive oil, salt flakes and crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425o.
Roll or stretch dough into a 12” by 14” rectangle.
Cut in thirds lengthwise, creating three 4 x 14 strips.
Divide the pesto between the three strips and spread evenly. Leave a ¾” edge pesto-free along the far (long side) of each strip.
Cover the pesto area on each strip with prosciutto – about 4 slices per strip. It’s okay to overlap a bit.
Divide the grated mozzarella between the three strips and sprinkle on top of the prosciutto.
Working with one strip at a time, tightly roll toward the pesto-free zone, creating a 14” long log. Tuck the ends under and place, seam side down, on an oiled or lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other two strips.
Brush the logs with olive oil and sprinkle with salt (I like Maldon Sea Salt Flakes ) and sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes.
Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown, rotating the pan about half way through.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. When cool enough to handle, transfer the logs off the baking sheet onto the wire rack. Let rest 10 minutes all together.
Slice into 12 slices per log. Stand back and relish the high praise.
Notes
*When asked on that maiden Ali-Roll voyage, the Ali-Roll Mistress herself instructed me to use “grocery store mozzarella for best melting.” Sure, you could fancy it up with fresh mozz, but you still won’t have leftovers.
A-comfy-cozy-warm-and-toasty-sit-by-the fire-and-sip-port-dessert. Cutting the butter that normally makes a command performance in the topping, this dessert weighs in at only 117 calories and 2 grams of fat. Ah, but it feels like so much more.
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
6 Amaretti Italian cookies, coarsely crumbled
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
Pinch of salt
Fruit
2 fresh Chilean Nectarines, halved, pits removed
1/2 cup fresh Chilean Blueberries
2 fresh Chilean Plums, halved, pits removed
2 Tablespoons port
1 Tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup non-fat Greek Yogurt
Directions
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Prepare 4 – 4” (1 1/2 cup) ramekins by coating the sides with a thin layer of butter.
Mix the crushed cookies, brown sugar and salt together in small mixing bowl.
Arrange 1/2 nectarines, cut side up in each of the four prepared ramekins. Divide the blueberries among the dishes. Place the 1/2 plums, cut side down, pushing the nectarines at an angle, so they overlap slightly. Drizzle each with the port. Sprinkle crumble on top and divide nuts among the ramekins.
Place ramekins on a sheet pan, and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, checking the topping after about 15 minutes. Place a small square of foil over the ramekin, if the topping is starting to darken. Fruit should be tender and juicy when pierced.
. This book is one of my very few must haves and has to be one of the best baking reference books ever written… at least for home-style desserts which are not only my personal favorites, but also the style at New World Grill where I did most of the baking. I am super excited to find out that it is no longer out of print! For years it was only available used, but it has been reprinted and is here for the taking! Not just pies, but cobblers, puddings, dumplings, cakes, tarts, custards, frozen treats and more. Run! Run! Run!
& sheet pan
) and sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes.
