FRESH PINEAPPLE PIE

Fresh Pineapple Pie                          makes one lattice crust 9” pie
 
(adapted from 250 Pies and Jill Van Cleave’s Progressive Baker)
 
Pie Pastry
 
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
½ cup ice cold water
egg wash made from 1 egg white beaten with 1 teaspoon water
coarse sugar for sprinkling
 
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Using a bench scraper or your fingers, cut in the butter until the dough is crumbly. Add the ice cold water, tossing the mixture to combine, just until the dough becomes shaggy and sticks together when pinched. Gather the dough together and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disc, flatten it and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling out. When the pastry has chilled, roll out one disc on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper into a circle about ⅛” thick and 12” in diameter. Fit the pastry into a 9” inch pie plate with 1½” sides. Trim the excess so you have about a 1” overhang then fold and crimp the edges. Refrigerate the bottom crust. Roll out the second disc of pastry for the top lattice crust on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Roll the pastry about ⅛” thick and 12” in diameter. Using a pastry wheel or a knife, cut the pastry into ten 1¼” strips. Place the parchment with the top lattice on a baking sheet and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line the bottom crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill with pie weights (or dried beans). Blind bake the bottom crust for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees, carefully remove the parchment/foil and pie weights. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork (to prevent it from puffing up) and return the pie shell to the oven for an additional 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Set aside to cool. You can turn off the oven until ready to bake the pie.
 
Filling

1 ripe Jet pineapple, about 1¼ lbs. peeled, cored, and cut into ½” chunks (save the runaway juices) you should have about 2½-3 cups of fruit
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
zest of 1 small lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugars, cornstarch and orange juice. Place the pineapple and its juice in a large, heavy-bottomed non-aluminum pot. Add the sugars/cornstarch/orange juice to the pineapple and cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Boil for an additional minute then remove from the heat. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Set this bowl on a towel (so it doesn’t wiggle across the counter) and add a few tablespoons of the pineapple mixture to the egg yolks to warm or ‘temper’ them, stirring to blend. Gradually add the remainder of the warm pineapple mixture to the egg yolks, stirring to combine. Return the yolks and pineapple mixture back to the heavy-bottomed pot. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly with a rubber scraper so it doesn’t scorch. Boil for an additional minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, lemon zest and vanilla, stirring gently to combine. Scrape this mixture into a clean bowl and set aside to cool. (The filling needs to cool down before you add the lattice top. You can speed this up by placing the bowl of filling over a larger bowl filled with ice; stir the filling occasionally.)
 
When the filling is cool, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and remove the baking sheet with the lattice strips from the refrigerator. Scrape the cooled filling into the blind-baked pie shell and using an offset spatula to lift the strips, place the lattice across the filling. You needn’t weave the lattice on this pie, simply place the strips on top of each other in the following order:
Place 2 of the longest strips perpendicular to each other across the center of the pie, forming a cross. Then place 4 of the shorter strips along the edges of the pie, parallel to the center strips. Place 4 remaining strips between each edge strip and center strip. Trim off the excess, seal the edges of the bottom crust with the lattice, fold under and crimp. Being careful not to drip egg wash onto the filling, brush the lattice with the egg wash, sprinkle with coarse sanding sugar and place the pie on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes to set the top crust. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and continue baking until the lattice is golden and the pie just barely bubbles around the edges and in the center, about 35-45 minutes. Cool before serving.

Note: I baked 3 individual heart-shaped pies by dividing the recipe by 3; the pans measure three and a half inches across the top and four inches, top to bottom. You can find the pans at Sur La Table. (1 cup fresh pineapple/2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons sugar/2 teaspoons cornstarch/2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons fresh orange juice/1 egg yolk/1 teaspoon butter/pinch lemon zest/a touch of vanilla) For the pie pastry, I used half of the recipe which is what I use when baking a single crust pie. Line the pans with pastry and blind bake for about 10 minutes. Fill with cooled filling, top with lattice strips and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.