Cherry Plum Slab Pie With Walnut Streusel Recipes

Steps:

• Use a bench scraper to cut butter into ½-inch cubes. (If butter begins to "sweat," dust with flour.) In a large, flat-bottomed bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter cubes and toss to coat with the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour; do not smash or smear the butter. Scrape butter off the pastry blender during the mixing process and continue mixing. (If butter is softening too fast, put the bowl in the refrigerator until butter firms up, 2-5 minutes.) Continue cutting, working quickly, until butter is broken down and looks like a coarse crumble with only a few larger pieces.
• Combine vinegar with water and ice; you'll use 10-12 tablespoons of this liquid in the pie dough. Begin by sprinkling 4 tablespoons of liquid over the flour mixture; use a bench scraper or your hands to incorporate until the mixture begins to come together. Sprinkle in 4 more tablespoons of liquid and continue the mixing process. Squeeze a fistful of dough: if it holds, like wet sand, it's ready. If it falls apart, add 1-2 more tablespoons of liquid at a time, squeezing the dough to check if it holds. Bring all the dough together, sprinkling dry bits with more small drops of liquid as necessary; dough will look shaggy. Knead in the bowl just until incorporated.
• Turn dough onto a work surface and use a bench scraper to divide dough into two equal pieces. Shape into flat disks and wrap in plastic; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, preferably overnight. Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and frozen up to 1 month, tightly wrapped.
• Generously grease pie dish with softened butter. Dust a work surface and a rolling pin with flour. Place one chilled pie disk on the work surface and lightly dust it with flour. (Reserve the other disk for another use.) Roll dough by starting at the center and lightly pressing down with the rolling pin to flatten slightly. Rotate the dough and repeat, pressing down so it's evenly flattened all around, about ⅛-inch thick. Then roll outward to make a circle, rotating the dough a quarter-turn at a time to keep it even. (If dough is softening too fast, chill in the refrigerator until firm, 2-5 minutes.) Roll the dough until it's about 2-3 inches larger than the pie dish, all the way around. Use a pizza wheel to trim away the rough edges. (Save the scraps to make crust cookies!)
• Overturn pie dish onto the center of the dough circle, then remove and place it right side up on your work surface. Use the light indentation created by the rim as a guide for gently positioning dough into the center of the dish. (If dough is softening too fast, put it back into the refrigerator until it firms up, 2-5 minutes.) Fit crust gently into dish, being careful not to stretch the dough. Begin crimping the edge by using your fingers to roll the dough firmly so it rests on top of the rim. Crimp by using your index finger and thumb on one hand to squeeze a letter "C" into the dough rim. (Lightly flour your fingers if the dough is sticking.) Repeat, crimping the entire pie and making sure the final fluted crust sits directly on top of the pan's rim. Pie is ready to be filled and baked.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Wearing gloves, use a cherry pitter to pit the cherries, with a large bowl to catch the pits. Set cherries aside.
• Streusel: In a mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, and salt. Combine using a pastry blender. Then cut in butter until the cubes are smashed and coated with dry ingredients. Wipe butter off of pastry blender and continue mixing with your fingers, rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients until texture is similar to wet sand. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. (You can store streusel in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to one month.)
• Filling: Peel the apple, then shred on the large holes of a box grater. Discard the peel and core. In a large mixing bowl, combine potato starch, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and bitters. Squeeze lemon juice into the cherries, then add to sugar-spice mixture along with the shredded apple. Toss until well mixed, crushing some of the cherries with your hands.
• Assembly: Pour filling into the refrigerated pie shell, packing down the cherries and adding all the remaining juices. Evenly distribute the streusel on top.
• Pie will bake for a total of 1 hour. Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack of the oven. Bake until crust is set and beginning to brown, 20-25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, move the pie to the center oven rack, and continue to bake until the pastry is a deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 30-35 minutes longer. (If crust is browning but the filling isn't bubbling, cover with aluminum foil and bake until the filling bubbles.) Allow pie to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into it, 2-3 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• Unroll pie crusts; place one on top of the other on work surface. Fold sides in to make straight edges; roll crust into 14 x 12-inch rectangle. Fit dough into quarter sheet pan (rimmed 13x9-inch); trim and crimp edges. Refrigerate.
• In food processor, place Streusel ingredients. Cover and process until mixture is sandy and clumps up when pinched. Set aside. In large bowl, mix Filling ingredients.
• Spread filling evenly over refrigerated pie crust. Sprinkle generously with streusel; bake about 1 hour or until juices are bubbling. Cool on cooling rack at least 30 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• For the crust: Combine the flour, granulated sugar and salt in a food processor and mix until combined. Add the butter and pulse until evenly combined and the size of small pebbles. Pour in the vinegar and pulse 1 to 2 times until just combined. With the food processor running, slowly pour in the cold water, adding just enough for the dough to form a ball. You may not need the entire 1/3 cup of water.
• Remove the dough from the food processor and form it into a ball. Cut off about a third of the ball so you have a small piece (about 10 ounces) and a larger piece (about 1 pound 6 ounces; see Cook's Note). Form both pieces of dough into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet very lightly with cooking spray.
• Dust a work surface lightly with flour. Roll the larger disc of dough into a rectangle that is 2 inches larger on all sides than the baking sheet. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then unfold it over the baking sheet, gently guiding the dough into the baking sheet and lightly pressing it into the corners, sides and bottom. Refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the pie.
• Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out the smaller disc of dough into a 20-by-12-inch rectangle. Place a ruler along the 12-inch side of the dough and make a mark with a pizza cutter every 1/2 inch. Turn the ruler along each mark and use it as a guide to cut a straight line, making twelve 1/2-inch strips that are 20 inches long. Transfer the strips of dough to a baking sheet, laying them diagonally so they fit and dusting the strips with flour as you lay them down. Refrigerate while you make the filling so the dough does not begin to stick together.
• For the filling: In a large bowl, mix together the plums, granulated sugar, cornstarch, almond extract, orange zest and juice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, making sure the plums are evenly coated. Let sit no more than 5 minutes.
• To assemble: Evenly spread the filling over the crust on the baking sheet. Lay one of the dough strips diagonally across the baking sheet from one corner to the other. Repeat laying strips parallel to the first piece evenly across the rest of the pie. You can cut strips down to size as you work your way towards the end of the pie, making sure to leave a bit of overhang on both sides.
• Take every other strip of dough and fold it back over itself so that it exposes a little more than half of the filling. Lay a long strip of dough in the opposite direction, going diagonally from one corner to the other. Fold the dough strips back down and you will begin to see a lattice form. Fold back every other strip of dough that you didn't fold back before, and then lay another strip of dough diagonally across the pie, working towards a corner. Continue this process until half the pie has a lattice top. Then rotate the pan and repeat the same process on the other side to finish the lattice.
• Fold the dough hanging over the sides of the pie up and over the edge, tucking the ends of the strips from the lattice top inside. This will ensure the strips of dough stay anchored to the edges of the pie. Crimp the edges of the dough using your pointer fingers and thumb to pinch the dough together.
• Whisk together the heavy cream and egg and brush evenly over the lattice top and edges of the pie. Sprinkle the entire pie with turbinado sugar and bake until the crust is a deep golden brown and bubbles form towards the middle of the pie, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let cool completely, at least 40 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine cherries, plums, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; toss to coat., On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 16x12-in. rectangle; transfer to an ungreased 13x9-in. baking dish. Trim even with rim of dish. Add filling. For topping, in a small bowl, mix oats, walnuts, flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling., Bake until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown, 50-55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, whisk 4 tablespoons water, sugar, brandy, cornstarch, lemon juice, tapioca, lemon zest and salt until combined. Add cherries. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool., Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough to a 14x9-in. rectangle. Cut out eight 3-1/2 x 4-1/2-in. rectangles. Repeat with remaining dough. , Transfer 8 rectangles to parchment-lined baking sheets; spoon about 3 tablespoons cherry mixture in center of each. Whisk egg and remaining 2 tablespoons water. Brush edges of crust with egg wash. Top with remaining 8 rectangles; press edges with a fork to seal. Brush tops with egg wash; cut slits in tops., Bake until crust is golden brown and slightly puffed, 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine confectioners' sugar, hot water, melted butter, extracts and salt; drizzle over pies. Garnish with freeze-dried strawberries if desired. Let stand until set.