This bonus dessert is a cross between a crumble and a pie. Fruit filling sits in a pastry crust base but is topped with crumble (or crisp) topping. Choose crumb pie when you simply can’t choose.
Yield: one 9-inch pie
What You Need:
For the Pie
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks or ¾ cup) cold unsalted butter
3 cups flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2-3 tablespoons cane sugar or turbinado sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
½ - 1 cup ice water
4-5 cups prepared fruit filling (see below)
2 tablespoons tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small chunks
For the Crumb Topping
¼ cup brown sugar (or cane sugar, turbinado, maple crystals or coconut sugar)
4 teaspoons ground spices, optional (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, etc.)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all purpose flour
What You Do:
Cut the butter into small cubes (4 cubes per tablespoon) and place on a plate or parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the fruit filling (see below).
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and sugar.
With your fingers, gently mix in the cold butter, pressing and crumbling until you have small pea-sized pieces coated in flour.
Remove the large ice cubes and then add ½ cup ice water to the flour and butter mixture with a spoon until it just comes together. Add more ice water a few drops at a time, if needed, so that it forms into a ball.
With your hand, in the bowl, compress 1 or 2 times until the dough holds together. Alternatively, turn the dough out onto the countertop and compress it a few times until it holds together.
Divide the dough half. Form each half gently into a 5-inch disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze for 20 minutes or refrigerate at least one hour or up to 1 day. [Unused disks can be frozen for up to 3 months.] Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
On flour dusted parchment paper, roll one disk of dough into a round, about ⅛ inch thick and 10 inches in diameter. Don’t worry about jagged or uneven edges. Those can be fixed later. Gently fold the dough in half and then in quarters. Transfer the folded dough to a pie plate and gently unfold. Using your fingertips, gently press the dough down into the pie plate and into the corners. Let the excess dough drape over the sides. With a sharp knife or kitchen shears trim the excess dough. Leave ¼ inch of dough hanging below the rim of the pie plate. Using your fingers or a fork, crimp the edges. Transfer the pie shell to the refrigerator and chill until read to use.
Stir the tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch into the fruit filling. Allow to stand 10 minutes. Then pour the filling into your pie dish on top of the crust. Dot the filling with the remaining pieces of butter. Return filled pie to the refrigerator.
In a mixing bowl (I use the same bowl the fruit was in), make the crumble topping. Combine the brown sugar, spices and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until smooth. With a fork, add the flour to make crumbles like damp sand.
With your fingers crumble the topping and scatter across the top of the pie. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Arrange oven racks so that they are in the middle and lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Remove pie from refrigerator and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, rotating halfway through, until the topping is lightly golden brown and fruit is slightly bubbly. If it needs more time, return to oven and check every 5 minutes until done.
Allow to cool completely, at least 2 hours at room temperature.
The Fruit Filling
What You Need:
5 cups fruit, (2.5 pounds peaches, plums, apricots, apples, etc. and 2 pints blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc.) peeled if desired, pitted, sliced 1/4 inch thick or diced into 1/2 inch chunks
⅓ cup sugar (white, brown, cane, turbinado, raw, maple crystals, or coconut)
3 pinches fine sea salt
1-2 teaspoons ground spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, etc.) or the insides of a vanilla bean, optional
Zest and juice from one lemon*, optional but highly recommended
*notes:
With cranberries, pears and apples, try orange in place of lemon, and only use half of a medium orange
With apples, you can omit the tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch
What You Do:
In a large bowl, stir together the prepared fruit, sugar, salt, spices, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours. You can refrigerate if you choose but this is not necessary.