More pie that doesn't look like pie.

Remember when last year I made the galette and declared it a great way to make pie without really making pie? Well, I stumbled upon another trick and in one of those “Why the heck didn’t I think of that?” ways, followed a recipe for slab pie.

***I interrupt you right now to apologize for the wonky font change. Blogger insists that no matter how many times I change the font or size, it will rightfully ignore my requests to save those changes. Carry on.***

And just like last year, I pondered what the heck my problem is with making a regular ole pie. It’s not that different than what I’m doing already. This year, I'll chalk it up to the fact that in college, a cute blonde boy rescued my favorite mittens that I left under my desk in Ethics class. As his reward, I offered to make him any baked good of his choice. He chose cherry pie. In the winter. You know, when cherries are not in season. So I made the cherry pie even when cherries were not in season and he deemed this pie very good. He then also revealed his mother usually won some award at the Washington County Fair for her cherry pie. Here I was competing against a boy's mother and didn't even know it! In the end I didn’t win the boy, but that’s ok, I never favored blonde boys anyway. And I don’t think I made a true pie since then! Turns out, I had some other hearts and stomachs to win over with those sweets of mine.

My brother Joe being one of them. Not that I had to win his heart, but he never bats away any of my baked goods, especially if it is blueberry pie. He's been my taste tester for a long, long time. He conveniently invited himself over for dinner the day before his birthday to offer The Boss some fun that only rough and tumble uncles can. He's really grown into his role as Fun Uncle quite well. Regardless, I knew it was his way of asking for blueberry pie. Since The Boss still is crazy excited about birthdays, I happily obliged.

Blueberries are still the crack fruit of the season in this house. The Boss and I are going through about a pint a day. In fact, we ended up eating all of the berries intended for this pie. So we had to show restraint the second time around. This slab pie is a monster and would be perfect for a party. This crust is really good too. Hank thought I used puff pastry it was so tender and flaky. And the filling. Wow. I’m always nervous about how much sugar to use when making fruit desserts and because the fruit was so good on its own, less was definitely more. It was worth breaking my self imposed sugar ban for a night. From what I hear days later, this makes for an excellent breakfast and midnight snack and afternoon snack and well, you get the picture. Good thing I sent it home with the birthday boy.

Blueberry and Peach Slab Pie

1 1/2 All Butter, Really Flaky Pie doughs

The full recipe that inspired my blueberry version is here.

My filling variation is as follows.

Blueberry Peach Filling:

6 cups blueberries (3 pints)

3 large ripe peaches, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

3/4 cup granulated sugar (my fruit was already very sweet)

1/4 cup cornstarch

Juice of half of a lemon

Pinch of salt