SquareCircleWorks: Nectarine Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Nectarine Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust

Fall is here. I can feel it in the cool air, I can smell it in the trees. The days grow short, and the quality of light changes. That means it's time to bake again! My oven has been lonely; my ceramic pie dish has languished on the shelf all summer. How about a pie?

I am trying to eat more "whole" foods, so I decided to look to past experts on healthy eating. I scanned my kitchen shelf and stopped at Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Molly wrote this popular cookbook back in 1982. I am pretty sure I bought my copy that year or shorty thereafter.

My original Mollie Katzen cookbook

As I browsed the book, I found a delicious-sounding crust recipe there, Oatmeal Cookie Crust. It has oatmeal, whole wheat flour, chopped nuts, and sesame seeds. Sounds great!

Thankfully, Mollie has the recipe available online.

In terms of filling, I knew just what to but in - nectarines. This is a wonderful fruit for pie; it's tart and sweet at the same time. And it has lovely shades of orange, yellow, red and burgundy. Beautiful!

Nectarine filling

Here's how to make Nectarine Pie:

Make the Oatmeal Cookie Crust dough.
Press 1/2 of the dough into the bottom of your pie shell.
Reserve the rest for a crumble topping.

Dough pressed to the bottom

Next, make the nectarine filling by combining:

4 cups sliced nectarines, unpeeled
the juice and zest from one small lemon
2-3 tbsp raw sugar
2-3 tbsp whole wheat flour

Spoon the filling onto the dough layer, then top with the remaining dough.

Ready to bake!

Bake at 365 F or 185 C for approximately 35 minutes.

This pie smells absolutely delicious as it completes its baking cycle. The dough is a lovely combination of chewy and crunchy. The pairing of nutty and fruity is perfect!