Good Boy Plum Pie

I love wandering around and exploring all the stores in our new area. Although considering how expensive it was to move, about the only shops I can afford to actually buy from are the vegetable ones. 

Lucky for me, there's a place nearby that sells everything  for 3.80 NIS/kilo. That's $0.49/lb, American people. I sort of went overboard grabbing fruits and veggies and I don't even know what I'm going to do with all of this. 

But it sure is purty, ain't it?

Plum pie, anyone?

To be honest, I'd never made plum pie before. I had some horrible mental image from Mother Goose of Jack Horner with a whole plum on his thumb saying what a good boy he is. 

So me, I chop my plums instead.

Then I add sugar, spices, and even the innards of half a vanilla bean

Roll out a nice, flaky crust (more on this later)

Weave a lattice on top of the heaping full pie in the fading light of the afternoon

And bake it into golden perfection. 

You know what? Plum pie is pretty darn tasty. It's not like peach pie, because the plums stay firm even when cooked through. But the spices were very nice and the crust was flaky and while I won't admit to making a small pie with the scraps and devouring it straight out of the oven...... I'm not going to deny it, either.

Good Boy Spiced Plum Pie

Crust: 

3 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chilled butter or margarine (butter is better but sometimes you just have to go nondairy and it still works)

8 tablespoons ice water

1 1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Blend flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until it forms a coarse meal. Add water and vinegar slowly only until it comes together in a big ball. The key is not to overwork the dough and not to add too much water.

Separate into two parts, pat into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and put in freezer at least an hour.

Filling:

3 tablespoons sugar (or more to taste)

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons orange or lemon peel, finely grated

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves 

(does anyone actually measure spices? I just dump them in)

dash of salt

1/2 vanilla bean, gutted

2 1/2 pounds plums, sliced nicely

Mix everything together.

Roll out one of the disks of pie dough. I like to do it between two parchment sheets, and if the pie dough is cold enough it means I don't have to add too much flour or get my hands dirty or worry about things getting messed up as I transfer the pie crust to the pie plate.

Pile the filling in as high as you can go.

Put the top on. Want to weave it into a lattice? Here's a video tutorial someone else made to show you how. It's really easy and looks awesome. Then I brush with egg and dust with sugar, pop in the oven at 375F for about 40 minutes until it's perfect and delicious!