A Friend with Pie Using Melvin's Pie Filling (Below)
Blueberries on the Bush
Mrs. Friedman’s Open Faced Plum or Peach Cake (or Apple or Pear or …)
Note from Kristi: Mrs. Friedman was an old neighbor of my grandparents, when they lived in a fourth-floor walk-up apartment building at 504 79th Street in North Bergen, New Jersey, in the 1950s. Mrs. Friedman gave her recipe to my grandma and it has remained a favorite with our family ever since.
Ingredients & Equipment: 1 cup butter (2 sticks) 2 cups flour 2 tablespoons sugar & ½ cup sugar 2 egg yolks Dash salt ½-1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional) 10-12 medium sized peaches, or 20-30 Italian plums, or other fruit equivalent Freshly whipped cream (optional) 1 large jelly pan or 2 pie plates Method: Mix 1 cup butter, 2 cups flour and 2 tablespoons sugar “as for pie crust,” until crumbly. More specifically, use a hand-held dough cutter or two knives to cut the butter into small pieces. Then keep cutting the butter into the dry ingredients until the lumps are about pea-size – too small or granular and the dough will be too tight. Add 2 egg yolks at the end for moisture, and mix in with a fork. Lightly press the dough into the pan with your hands. (Don’t pack it down too hard.)
Wash, dry, and slice the fruit. If you’re using Italian plums, you don’t have to peel them, but apples and peaches, and some pears, will work better peeled. Arrange the fruit in an overlapping design. The overlap is important, as the fruit will shrink a little when baked. If desired, you can use a few berries here and there for decoration, such as in the middle, or evenly distributed around the edges in a pattern, but too many will likely add too much moisture. Sprinkle with ½ cup sugar and ½-1 teaspoon cinnamon, if desired. Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top or on the side.
Aunt Edda's Open Faced Fruit Cake with Italian Plums and Seckel Pears
Aunt Edda’s Open Faced Fruit Cake Note from Kristi: This recipe comes from a great friend of the family whom I always called “Aunt Edda.” Originally from the Black Forest, near Alsace in France, she has always been a fantastic cook, wonderfully mixing German and French culinary traditions. This dough is thicker and cakier than the dough above.
Ingredients & Equipment: ¾ cup butter ½ cup sugar & 2 tablespoons sugar 1 cup flour ¼ teaspoon vanilla 1 egg 1 teaspoon baking powder 6 to 8 peaches, or other fruit equivalent Springform pan Method: Grease the springform pan. Wash, peel and cut the fruit into slices. Sweeten the fruit by mixing in 2 tablespoons sugar (or you can sprinkle it on top at the end). Cream the butter, ½ cup sugar, vanilla and egg. Add the flour and baking powder. Press into a springform pan. Arrange the fruit on top in an overlapping pattern. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Stone-ground whole wheat flour can be used as well, but you should increase the butter to 1 cup. The texture will be a bit grainier and the dough denser, but with the smooth, sweet fruit on top, it provides a nice contrast. Rather than finding the stone-ground whole wheat flour too coarse, people tend to think it delicious and ask what the secret ingredient is. (Also, when I can't seem to find my springform pan, I've used a regular pie or quiche pan. This works fine, but it doesn't look as nice when it's served, and you may have more trouble getting it out.)
Melvin’s Pie Filling: Note from Kristi: I have a friend named Mel, a retired pastor and grandfather, who really likes to bake and cook. Among other things, he bakes wonderful bread. He also prepares outstanding Indonesian food, which he learned when he lived there for several years. But I digress. He also makes a mean pie. Mel's pie filling is delicious, easy and versatile. A small amount of rum gives it a special kick, but there is not a strong flavor or aftertaste, and you can use lemon juice instead, if you prefer. One great thing about this recipe is that you can use it with any kind of fruit, including strawberries, cherries, raspberries (red or black), blueberries, or, later in the season, even apples. Just use one, or try a new combination! Mel says the recipe originated in a decades-old newspaper article, so I'll just call it "Melvin's."
Ingredients: 4 to 6 cups fruit, such as pitted cherries or blueberries ½ cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour dash of cinnamon and nutmeg 3 tablespoons rum or lemon juice 2 tablespoons butter
Method: Mix all ingredients except butter together in a bowl. (The flour acts as a thickener.) Make sure ingredients are evenly distributed around fruit. Place ingredients in pie shell and dab with butter. (Don't pre-bake bottom layer of pie crust.) Place pie crust top over fruit and "stitch" together edges by pinching or using a fork. Gently insert knife 3 to 5 times in an attractive pattern on top of pie crust to form air holes. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes plus 350 degrees for another 30 minutes. (Note that different pie crust recipes call for different baking times, but I found Melvin's suggestions to work well.)
For the pie crust, you can use pre-made crust that you need to roll out at home, or you can use your favorite recipe from scratch. Alternatively, you can buy pre-made pie shells in aluminum pans, which are typically in the freezer case. If you go this route, use a second "bottom" as the "top" by gently removing the crust from the pan and placing it over the fruit. (You can also remove both from the aluminum pans, use your own pan, and nobody will guess who made the crust!) And be sure you're using a dough crust and not a graham cracker crust.
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