Chew on This | Plum Pie

It's Monday. Whew. Just saying that makes me feel a little winded.

Wow.  Hello Monday.  I wasn't ready for you yet. It's going to take me a little while to find my groove today. And I know just the thing that will help....pie. Plum pie to be specific.

We had a lovely babysitter a few years ago that first introduced me to plum pie.  I had never had it, heard of it or thought it would be too good.

Silly, naive and goofy of me.

Her version is an Italian plum pie.  I never got her recipe but she was very specific about Italian plums. I can never find Italian plums? What's up with that?  

This deterred me from making plum pie for about two seconds.

Here's what you'll need to make yummy plum pie:

Plums ( I used black plums), sugar, cinnamon, corn starch,  and two refrigerated pie crusts (Hey, it's Monday, I need all the help I can get).  Butter, graham crackers and greek yogurt - sorry, not shown here.

Slice up your plums.  The black plums are sweet and have small pits that are real easy to remove. And see that?  You don't have to peel anything.

Ahhh easy.  I love you easy.  

Add some sugar.  You won't need too much since the plums are so sweet.

Oh!  And get your oven preheated to 350 degrees F.  It's almost time.  Really.

Now, your cinnamon.  Add to your taste.  I add a lot.  My taste says more cinnamon.

Add corn starch.  

Yeow!  That looks like a lot.  I lost control here.  I poured instead of properly measuring. With a measuring spoon. Don't be like me or you'll have an extra step of removing corn starch.

Stir.  

Let the plums sit while you prepare your store bought pie crusts. 

I rolled the cold pie crust a bit to smooth it out and then placed it in the pie plate.  I sprinkled some crushed graham crackers on the bottom of the crust. I learned this from the lovely Joy.  Of Joy the Baker.  She says that this keeps the bottom crust from getting soggy when fruit pies bake.  She's so smart.

Okay, time for the fruit. Doesn't this look good? Add some little pats of butter.  It would be silly to skip this step. Butter adds....butter.  And adding butter is good.  Butter=good.

Place your second pie crust on top.  Trim if necessary.  And crimp the two pieces together.

Make a few vents on top to let the steam out while baking.

Before baking you could give the pie an egg/milk wash (beat an egg, add a little milk and coat the mixture on with a pastry brush) and sprinkle with sugar.  I did.  It was worth it.

And here we are Monday, a beautiful pie. I don't even need to sit down from exhaustion. This was easy.

Now, the hardest part about this pie. Choosing what to dollop on top. Sure, you could use ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.  That would be very nice.

But if you really want to experience this Monday plum pie properly, you need to dollop with....sour cream or Greek yogurt. That's right.  The tang and the sweet.  The warmth from the cinnamon.  The butter from, well, the butter and from the buttery crust. A taste sensation.

Dear Monday,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm glad you came along.

Cares

Here's the recipe:

Plum Pie

Plums - pitted and sliced 

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 T corn starch

2 refrigerated pie crusts

2 T crushed graham crackers

3 T cubed butter

*Optional: 

1 beaten egg

2 T milk

1 T sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Clean and dry plums.  Cut plums in half and remove pit.  Slice each half into four pieces.  Place slices into a large bowl.  

Sprinkle plums with sugar, cinnamon and corn starch.  Stir to incorporate and set aside to prepare pie crusts.

Unroll store bought crusts and gently smooth out crusts with a rolling pin.  Place one crust into a deep dish pie plate, gently pushing crust into the bottom and up sides of plate.
Sprinkle crust with crushed graham crackers and then spoon in your prepared plums.

Add cubed butter pieces onto the fruit and cover with second crust.  Trim crust if necessary and then pinch and crimp the top and bottom crusts together.  Cut a few air vents into the top crust to release steam while baking.

*Optional:  Beat one egg with 2 tablespoons of milk and brush onto top crust with a pastry brush.  Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Bake your pie at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.  Pie is done when juices are bubbling and crust is brown and beautiful.

Top your warm slice of pie with a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream.  These are preferable in my book.  Or top with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.

Enjoy!