Whoever came up with the phrase “easy as pie” must have had rustic pies in mind. No fitting in a pie plate or fussy crimping for these pies. No. Just roll out a single crust, pile on the filling, and bring the edge of the crust up over the filling. The more “rustic” looking the better! It tastes just as good as regular pies, without the fuss.

This week I got some cherries on sale, along with the sweetest apricots and plums.  I also got some blueberries (not shown) and seedless black grapes. With so much luscious fruit in the house, I just had to use some of it in a pie. Here’s what I did:

I pulled a single pie crust from the freezer, thawed it, and rolled it out between two pieces of parchment.  After preheating the oven to 400 degrees, I placed the crust (still on the bottom parchment) on a baking sheet (discard the top piece of parchment).  I then spread about 2 tablespoons of lime marmalade on the crust, to add a bit of citrus flavor, but this is an optional step.  For the filling, I combined about a cup of pitted and halved cherries with two apricots and two plums, pitted and sliced.  I tossed in a handful of blueberries, too, just because I had them on hand and I like to add blueberries to just about everything!  You can use any kind of fruit, separately or in combination, in this type of pie.

Labels: stone fruit pie