Have you ever taken a bite of a baked good and thought, “Wow, I could eat six more of these!” And then you take another bite and your jaw drops because it’s just so good. Lucky for us, Clara Polito, the 19-year-old mastermind behind Clara Cakes, is here to demystify vegan pie-making for us. Clara shares a recipe for for her raspberry white peach pie.
See Clara in action at KCRW’s Good Food pie contest on October 2; she’s the youngest of our esteemed panel of judges.
CLARA POLITO’S RASPBERRY WHITE PEACH PIE
Yield: Makes 1 whole pie
Crust Ingredients
2½ cups all-purpose flour, pre-chilled in freezer
1 tsp granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
6–8 tbsps ice water
1 cup vegan butter, chopped into cubes and frozen for 5 minutes
A 9-inch pie tin
Filling Ingredients
7 white peaches, sliced into thin wedges
18 ozs fresh raspberries
⅔ cup brown sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour or cornstarch
1 tbsp granulated sugar (for topping)
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp salt
Juice of half a lemon
3 tbsps soy milk
2 tbsps Earth Balance butter substitute, melted
Day One
Prepare the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Add in the chilled cubes of butter and use your fingers to . Alternatively, you can pulse the mixture in a food processor until the texture turns into a coarse meal. Then, add the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough begins to come together but is not too wet.
Knead the dough once or twice with you hands. Divide the dough into 2 portions and shape both into discs. Wrap both disks in plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator. Store for 2 days or overnight.
Day Two (or Three)
Roll out the crust: Dust your rolling pin with a generous amount of flour and roll out one of the dough disks on a well-floured surface or a large sheet of parchment paper. Continue working the dough until it is about ⅛-inch thick. Transfer the flattened dough to a 9-inch pie tin and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. This will be your bottom crust.
Prepare the filling: In a large bowl, gently combine the peaches, raspberries, flour, brown sugar, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice until all of the fruit is evenly coated. Taste the mixture and adjust the sugar and salt, accordingly.
Prepare the pie: Next, roll out the second disk of dough to make the top crust. Working again on a well-floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about 10½ inches in diameter.
Combine the soy milk and melted butter substitute in a bowl. Now remove the bottom crust from the refrigerator. Brush the edges of the bottom crust with the melted butter mixture. Set aside.
Pour the fruit filling into the bottom pie crust. Gently cover the fruit filling with the top crust and pinch the edges of the top and bottom pie crusts together. Transfer the pie to the refrigerator and allow to chill for 40 minutes.
Bake the pie: Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Just before baking, glaze the pie crust surface with the melted butter mixture. Then using a knife, cut four lines into the center of the top surface of your pie to create a star pattern (see photo).
Transfer the pie to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Check your pie and return to the oven to bake for an addition 30 to 40 minutes. Once your pie turns a golden brown, remove it from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack.
To serve: Allow your pie to cool for at least one hour before serving.
