Hello, Autumn!

It's finally sweater weather and I couldn't be happier. Plus, there are wonderful things like pears and plums to be eaten.

Speaking of plums, I just had to make a Three Plum Pie. I watched both seasons of Pushing Daisies on Netflix and loved it even though every episode made me hungry! If you like food or the movie Amélie or Tim Burton movies, you'll probably like Pushing Daisies. I highly recommend it.

Exciting news! I've found a way to offer my recipes as PDF downloads! Click here for Three Plum Pie and here for Shortcrust Pastry.

Three Plum Pie

Crust:

9” Double-crust pie shell (See my Shortcrust Pastry recipe.)

Filling:

½ lb red plums

½ lb black plums

¼ lb damsons (Italian prune plums)

zest from ½ an orange

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

For each plum, cut in half and remove the pit. Slice into approximately ¼” wedges. Place the wedges into a large mixing bowl. Grate the orange zest over the bowl and stir to combine. Next, add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Stir to combine and set aside.

Roll out the bottom crust of your pastry and fit to your pie plate. Pour in the plum filling and then roll out the top crust and fit over the filling, crimping the edges. Make six 1” slashes in the top of the crust.

Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and then brush the top of the pie with the milk. Bake for 12 minutes at 450 and then turn the temperature down to 325 and bake a further 40 minutes, or until the crust in nicely browned.

You should definitely have a slice while the pie is hot, but any leftovers can be refrigerated and eaten later.

Adapted from this recipe and this recipe.

Shortcrust Pastry

Adapted from All About Home Baking*

Yields two 9” pie shells (enough for one double-crust pie or two single-crust pies)

1 ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

11 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/3 cup (approximately) cold water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Next, rub in the butter with fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Incorporate a bit of the water at a time until the dough starts to come together. You may not need all the water.

Divide the dough into two equally sized discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour. If you don’t plan to use the dough within 24 hours, you can freeze it for up to a month.

After the dough has chilled, you can either roll the dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap (adjusting the wrap often enough to prevent it from tearing) or flour your counter and rolling pin and roll the dough out directly on the counter.

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In movie news, on October 12th Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting a Simon Templar (a.k.a. The Saint) marathon. George Sanders played Simon Templar five times (his films are on from 10:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST), but none of the films are available on DVD. Thought I'd give you a heads up in case you were interested. By the way, don't call me between 10:15 and 4:30.

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* General Foods Corporation, “Calumet Pie Crust,” All About Home Baking (New York: 1933), 101.