I have a pie problem.
It’s not that I can’t make crust, and it’s not that I don’t like it. The problem is simple: when I bake a pie I cannot stop eating it until every last crumb has been polished off the counter.
Yes — I have licked crumbs from the countertop.
As a child, whenever my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday cake I always answered, “Blueberry pie!” My mother, who was wary of making pie crust, endured my request patiently. I wasn’t unkind; I just knew what I wanted. I always want pie.
Blueberry is my perennial favorite, but I love every kind of pie: fruit pies like apple, cherry, rhubarb, grape, strawberry, peach and pear, as well as cream and custard pies and every delightful combination in between. No pie is left behind in my kitchen.
Pie is, to me, the superior dessert. It balances filling and crust perfectly. Cake is essentially a sponge under a thick layer of frosting, which I enjoy, but pie blends textures and flavors in a way cake rarely does. And fruit pies can even feel virtuous — lots of fruit in one dish makes it hard to argue they’re not a little healthy.
When Pie Week rolled around, joining in was a no-brainer. Deciding which pie to highlight was another story — every pie seems to call my name. I settled on a slab pie because it feeds a crowd, is visually impressive, and is incredibly versatile. For this version I used three different fruit fillings so the pie would offer variety and please every palate at the table. If your guests don’t love pie, I’m honestly not sure how to help them.
The fillings I used were home-canned from summer, but store-bought pie fillings work perfectly well too. I chose peach, sour cherry, and blueberry — three of my favorite fillings — but you can pick any trio of fruits you like.
The biggest advantage of a slab pie is the surface area: more crust in every bite and plenty of room for different fillings. A regular round pie doesn’t lend itself well to clearly separated sections of multiple fillings, but a rectangular slab makes it easy.
I like to finish this pie with a generous crumbly crisp topping. The crisp bakes faster than a full top crust, lets you watch the fruit bubble and the crust brown, and pairs beautifully with a melting scoop of ice cream.
In the end, a slab pie combines the best parts of pie and crisp into one colorful, crowd-pleasing dessert. Which three fruits would you choose for your slab pie?
Triple Fruit Slab Pie
Rebecca Lindamood
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Ingredients
- 2 cups each of 3 fully cooked fruit pie fillings — I used blueberry total 6 cups pie filling; the other two were sour cherry and peach
- a double-crust sized batch of your favorite pie crust pastry
For the Crisp Topping:
- 2 1/2 cups of pre-made Big Batch Crisp Topping — or — 1 stick softened butter If making from scratch: 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup white whole wheat flour, 2/3 cup brown or raw sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a dash each of cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat with butter until crumbly.
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
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Roll the pastry into a rectangle slightly larger than a 10″ × 15″ jelly roll pan. Gently fit the crust into the pan and trim any excess. Place the pan so a long side runs parallel to the counter edge. Spoon the first filling into the left third of the crust, the second filling into the center third, and the third filling into the right third. Evenly scatter the crisp topping over the entire pie. Place the pan on a sheet of aluminum foil slightly larger than the pan to catch any spills. Bake 40–50 minutes, until the filling bubbles, the topping is golden and the visible crust is browned. Cool to room temperature before cutting.
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided as a courtesy. Calculate nutrition using the exact ingredients you use with your preferred nutrition calculator.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @foodiewithfam on Instagram and use the hashtag #foodiewithfamily so I can see your pie!
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