Cherry Vanilla Slab Pie Recipes

CHERRY SLAB PIE

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Cube the cold butter and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You can also use your clean fingers to work the butter into pea-sized pieces into the flour.
• Make the ice water in a bowl and the add ice water a teaspoon at a time to the dough base until the dough just comes together. You'll probably need about 8 to 10 tablespoons of ice water for this much pie crust. Try not to add too much water.
• When you can pull the dough together into a ball, knead it a few times and then divide it into a 2/3 piece and 1/3 piece. The 2/3 piece will be the base of the pie and the 1/3 piece will be the lid. Wrap the pieces separately in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Pit the cherries using a cherry pitter or a chopstick to push the pit out of the fruit. Add the pitted whole cherries to a bowl with the sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt. Let sit for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the pie crust from the fridge and roll out the larger piece of pie crust to fit your pan. I use a 10x15inch jelly roll pan, and it fits perfectly. You can roll the pie crust thinner if you have a slightly larger sheet pan, but if you do that then you might need to up the filling on the pie to 7 or 8 cups of fruit.
• Press the pie crust into your pan and pour fruit filling into the crust. There should be gaps in the fruit. It shouldn't cover the entire crust as the fruit will expand as it bakes.
• Roll out the smaller piece of crust and cut out some circles to show off the cherries. Place the pie crust over the filling, and crimp the edges to attach it to the bottom crust.
• Brush the pie with egg wash, and dust liberally with coarse sugar.
• Bake the pie for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating once halfway through. Then allow to cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.Store leftover pie in the fridge for a few days.

CHOCOLATE-CHERRY LATTICE SLAB PIE

Steps:

• For the filling: Put the cherries, granulated sugar, chocolate, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts and salt in a large bowl. Toss until the cornstarch dissolves. Let stand at room temperature until juicy, about 30 minutes. (If using frozen cherries, leave them frozen and toss them with the above ingredients).
• Adjust an oven rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 10-by-15-inch baking sheet with butter.
• For the crust: To form the bottom crust, place 1 pie crust between two large pieces of floured parchment paper and roll into a 14-inch round. Lay the round over half of the prepared baking sheet; there will be overhang on the edges. Repeat the rolling process with a second pie crust. Lay it over the remaining exposed side of the baking sheet so that the two crusts overlap in the center of the pan; there will be overhang on the edges. Press together the overlapping crusts to make a tight seal. Transfer the filling to the crust and spread in an even layer. Dot the top with the butter.
• For the lattice crust: Repeat rolling the remaining 2 pie crusts into two 14-inch rounds. With a chef's knife or a pizza cutter, cut each crust into 1-inch-wide strips. Lay half the strips diagonally across the entire pie, about 1-inch apart. Weave the remaining strips diagonally across the first strips to make a lattice pattern. Trim the the lattice ends leaving an overhang, Press together the ends and the bottom edge of the crust to seal, then fold and crimp the edge as desired.
• Brush the lattice and edge of the crust with the cream and sprinkle generously with some granulated sugar. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 45 to 55 minutes. (If the crust browns too quickly during baking, cover the pie loosely with foil.) Let cool.
• For the topping: Meanwhile, whip the cream, sour cream and brown sugar in a large bowl to medium peaks. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Serve the pie warm or at room temperature with dollops of the whipped topping.

SOUR CHERRY SLAB PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If using frozen cherries, defrost and drain. In a large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt. Stir to combine; set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece of dough into an 18-by-12-inch rectangle. Transfer to a 15-by-10-by-1-inch rimmed baking sheet, (pastry will hang over sides of pan). Pour cherry mixture into lined baking sheet; set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out remaining piece of dough into a 16-by-11-inch rectangle. Drape over filling. Bring bottom pastry up and over top pastry. Pinch edges to seal. Using a fork, prick top crust all over. Brush with heavy cream.
• Bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 40 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until just warm to the touch, about 45 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until desired glaze consistency is achieved. Use a spoon to drizzle over top. Serve warm or room temperature.

CHERRY STREUSEL SLAB PIE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• Unroll pie crusts; place one on top of the other on work surface. Fold sides in to make straight edges; roll crust into 14 x 12-inch rectangle. Fit dough into quarter sheet pan (rimmed 13x9-inch); trim and crimp edges. Refrigerate.
• In food processor, place Streusel ingredients. Cover and process until mixture is sandy and clumps up when pinched. Set aside. In large bowl, mix Filling ingredients.
• Spread filling evenly over refrigerated pie crust. Sprinkle generously with streusel; bake about 1 hour or until juices are bubbling. Cool on cooling rack at least 30 minutes before serving.

OLD-FASHIONED CHERRY VANILLA PIE

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Cut butter into pieces. In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together flour, salt, butter, and shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 5 tablespoons ice water and toss or pulse just until mixture forms a dough, adding additional ice water, a little at a time, if dough is too dry. Divide dough in half and flatten each piece into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.
• Make filling:
• In a small bowl stir together sugar, tapioca, salt, and cinnamon. In a large heavy skillet cook fresh or frozen cherries over moderately high heat, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon transfer cherries to a heatproof bowl. Add sugar mixture to cherry juices in skillet and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir cherry sauce and vanilla into cherries and cool.
• Line lower rack of oven with foil and preheat oven to 400° F.
• On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out 1 piece dough into an 11-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Fit dough into a 9-inch (1-quart) pie plate, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Pour filling into shell and chill, loosely covered with plastic wrap.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out remaining dough into an 11-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) and with a sharp knife or fluted pastry wheel cut into 1-inch-wide strips. Working on a sheet of wax paper set on a baking sheet, weave pastry strips in a close lattice pattern. Chill or freeze lattice on wax paper on a flat surface 20 minutes, or until firm. Brush edge of filled shell with cold water and slide lattice off wax paper and onto pie. Let lattice stand 10 minutes to soften. Trim edges flush with rim of pie plate and crimp decoratively. Gently brush lattice top with cold water and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake pie in middle of oven 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden and filling just begins to bubble, and transfer to a rack to cool slightly. Serve pie warm with ice cream.

CHERRY VANILLA SLAB PIE

Steps:

• Pulse flour, butter, lard and salt in a food processor until crumbly. Whisk 1 egg with 2 tsp (10 mL) lemon juice; add enough ice water to make 2/3 cup (150 mL). Add to the flour mixture and pulse until the dough comes together. Form into an oblong disk; chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). On a well-floured surface, roll dough into a large rectangle, about 1/8-inch (3 mm) thick. Trim dough into a 13 x 18-inch (32.5 cm x 45 cm) rectangle. Carefully transfer dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Stir sugar with cornstarch and lemon zest until combined. Sprinkle half of the mixture evenly down the length of one side of the rectangle, leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) border. Arrange cherries evenly over sugar mixture. Whisk 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice with vanilla; drizzle evenly over the cherries. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture evenly over top.
• Fold dough over to cover the filling. Fold an additional 1/2-inch (1 cm) of dough from bottom layer over top layer along the edges; crimp with a fork to seal. Whisk remaining egg with a little water; brush all over pastry. Slash 4 vent holes in top. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until golden. Cool completely on baking sheet.
• Optional Glaze: Blend icing sugar with milk until smooth. Drizzle evenly over the cooled pie. Makes 12 servings.
• Tip: Fold dough into thirds or roll around a rolling pin to transfer it, after trimming, to the baking sheet.

VANILLA CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• First, make the pastry. Put the butter and flour in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like damp breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse to combine. Whisk the egg yolks, 2 tbsp cold water and the vanilla in a bowl, then drizzle over the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough starts to clump together, adding a drizzle more water, 1 tsp at a time, if the dough feels dry - try not to add too much or the pastry will be tough. Tip out onto a work surface and knead briefly to bring everything together to a smooth dough. Break into 2 pieces, one a little larger than the other, wrap in cling film, pat into flat discs and chill for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Remove the larger piece of pastry from the fridge - if it feels a little firm, leave at room temperature for 20 mins to soften. On a floured surface, roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use the pastry to line a 20-22cm metal pie plate or tin, leaving a little excess pastry overhanging - trim with a pair of scissors if necessary. Line the base with baking parchment and baking beans, and blind-bake for 20 mins. Mix the cherries, cornflour and sugar in a bowl. Add the cherry jam, vanilla and butter, and mix again.
• Remove the beans and parchment from the base, brush the pastry with some of the beaten egg white and bake for 5 mins more until golden. Trim the pastry to neaten.
• Turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Tip the cherries into the centre of the pie. Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness as before, large enough to cover the pie. Slide the pastry onto a well-floured sheet of baking parchment and, using your favourite mini biscuit cutter or the wide end of a piping nozzle, stamp out a scattering of shapes - we used a 2cm star cutter, but hearts or circles would look nice - just don't cut out too many or the pastry will collapse. Brush the egg white over the edge of the pie rim and all over the lid. Place a few cut-out shapes back on the pastry, if you like. Carefully lift the baking parchment and pastry, and slide the pastry lid onto the pie, removing the parchment. Trim the excess pastry, then use a fork to press the lid to the base. Bake for 35 mins.
• Brush the pie with the remaining egg white and scatter with the remaining 1 tbsp sugar. Bake for a further 5 mins until golden brown and bubbling. Leave to cool for at least 20 mins before serving with crème fraîche, thick cream or ice cream.

CHERRY PLUM SLAB PIE WITH WALNUT STREUSEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine cherries, plums, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; toss to coat., On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 16x12-in. rectangle; transfer to an ungreased 13x9-in. baking dish. Trim even with rim of dish. Add filling. For topping, in a small bowl, mix oats, walnuts, flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling., Bake until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown, 50-55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.