Have you ever heard of such a thing? Me neither!! I know there are plenty of pies made with citrus curds and such but I have never heard of a pie that uses citrus segments as if they were any other fruit in a standard double crust fruit pie.
And then I entered the game.
This idea came about when my husband and I were on the couch drinking too much wine and I just came out and said I wanted to bake a pie. (As one does…) He said good because our son had requested a pie. I said what pie should I make? He said apple? I said it’s not their season anymore… what’s in season now…? He said beets. I let him laugh at himself because I’m a good wife. I said citrus. He said why isn’t that a thing?
And here we are.
This is a little more time consuming than a standard fruit pie because unlike, say, an apple pie where you’re just coring and slicing, you’re segmenting all the citrus. But I enjoyed the process due to all the internal excitement about my pie idea. And I know this sounds (and looks) like it would be incredibly sticky and sweet… almost like a marmalade… but I assure you it isn’t. I use just the right amount of sugar to make it not overly sweet. And the combination of the naturally sweet and slightly tart citrus, with a delicate amount of brown sugar and some spices…? Mmmm… It really comes off like every other fruit pie! It’s thick and a little sweet and the crust is buttery and rich and OH MY GOD THIS PIE IS AMAZING.
I’m just so damn happy it all came out and really proud that I did it. Cause I had an idea, I didn’t know how it would turn out, but I just trusted my instincts and created something new and exciting. And now I get to share it with you lovely people.
It was a good day in the kitchen. And now it’s your turn!
DOUBLE CRUST CITRUS PIE
. pastry .
If you’re not a make-your-own dough kinda person and I can’t convince you otherwise, buy Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts – the kind that comes rolled up, 2 in a box.
See here for my gluten free pie dough recipe.
Or follow the following recipe for my standard, all-butter wheat pastry dough. (IT’S SOOOO GOOOOOD!!!)
In the bowl of a food processor, with the blade attachment, add the following…
- 2 cups white, unbleached, all purpose flour
- 1 rounded tsp kosher salt
Pulse to mix.
Remove lid to add in shredder disk attachment, leaving the blade inside.
Return lid.
In the pour spout of your lid, place…
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, FROZEN
(my food processor pour spout is the exact size of 2 sticks of butter)
Turn on the processor and gently press down with the lid of the spout and grate the frozen butter into the bowl of the food processor with the flour/salt.
Remove disk attachment. Return lid.
Turn the processor back on and slowly pour in…
- about 1/2 cup ice water, or until the mixture comes together as a dough.
Turn onto a counter top and separate into two pieces. Press down to make a flat disk shape, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prep your filling…
. filling and garnish .
Wash the following citrus fruit…
- 8 small-medium navel oranges (2 1/2 lbs worth)
- 2 large Ruby Red (or similar red variety) grapefruit
- 2 small lemons
Using a cocktail ‘twist’ zester if you have one, zest 1 of the grapefruits. If you only have a standard peeler, peel most of the peel off and thinly slice with a knife to get strings.
Place these into a small pot and cover with…
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar.
If your pot is bigger and this amount does not completely immerse the zest, then add more. Just be sure to have equal parts water and sugar to create a syrup.
Heat this on medium-low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely, then cut back the heat to low to poach the zest while you make your pie- for about 1 hour.
They’re done when they’re glossy and a little transluscent.
Remove the zest strips from the syrup and toss in about 1 TB of white sugar to coat. Now you have properly candied grapfruit zest.
Back to the filling…
As you’re poaching the zest you’re going to supreme all of the citrus fruit. This means you’re taking out only the flesh, but leaving behind every bit of pith.
Simply slice the ends off of each fruit – at the stem and opposite end. Then flip the fruit onto one of the now flattened ends and using a sharp chef’s knife, shave off the peel until you have a naked fruit.
Then, working over a large bowl, take that knife and slice down into each segment, removing the fruit but keeping the pith ‘skeleton’ in tact.
Squeeze the juice from that ‘skeleton’ into the bowl with your hands and discard the skeleton. (Note that you will not need all of this citrus juice for the pie, but I encourage you to get all of it and reserve for something else… perhaps a celebratory cocktail because you deserve it after making an awesome pie.)
Repeat this until all grapefruit, oranges and lemons have been supremed.
Pour off all of the juice (not pressing down or being too meticulous about it… you just want all the residual juice to be left out of the pie), or use a slotted spoon to remove the fruit and place into a different mixing bowl. You will have about 3-4 cups of citrus segments.
Into this bowl of just fruit, add the following…
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 cup + 1 TB cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
Mix well, making sure any brown sugar or cornstarch lumps are gone.
. assembly .
Roll out one of your dough disks from the fridge and place into a pie plate. Crimp edges if desired.
(Check out my video here for tips on how to do that the easiest way possible.)
Pour in your filling.
Dot with…
- 4 TB unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces.
And either roll out your other dough for a standard double crust pie, make it a lattice crust, or do what I did here and cut out shapes (circles) and place them over top.
Brush tops of the dough (top ‘crust’ only) with…
- cream or half&half (or milk if that’s all you have)
And sprinkle with…
- sugar (I prefer raw sugar because of the prettier, larger crystals)
Place on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 (do not open oven) and continue to bake for another 30 minutes.
Allow to cool on a rack.
Once cooled enough to handle, slice and serve warm.
Garnish with your candied grapefruit zest and vanilla ice cream for extra credit.
And don’t forget to reserve that now Grapefruit Simple Syrup for that celebratory cocktail.
Might I suggest gin? 😉
XOXO
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