Back to Baking... Plum & Raspberry Pie

I have been dying to get back in the kitchen and cook some home cooked food.  If there is one thing that I hate most about moving, it is eating out for most of your meals.

All of your kitchen stuff is packed away into boxes, so your left to the mercy of dining out. Now some may just love that, but me, well not so much. Ya, I love the fact that you don't have any messes to clean up and no dirty dishes, but there is just something about a home cooked meal that feels right.

Maybe it's the fact that you know exactly what your eating... I don't know, I just know I'm happy to be cooking again.

Well, once we arrived in Texas I was overjoyed to find such an amazing produce selection.  I bought a huge case of plums because they looked so yummy and found over the last couple of days that I couldn't eat them fast enough. So what better to do with lots of fresh fruit... Well bake a pie that is!

I must say I was so proud of myself, I have never made a pie (crust and all) ever by myself before so this was definitely a first for me and seriously I may have eaten more than just one slice... in less than an hour... and I am probably not eating a slice as I type this either...

Recipe:
For the Fruit Filling:
3 cups of plums (sliced and pitted) (I didn't peel mine but I just may next time)
1 cup raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (I added this myself because my plums were quite tart, if you have sweeter fruit i would leave this step out)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. Lemon juice

1 (9") unbaked pie crust (for the recipe I used click here)

For the Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
4 Tbsp. butter (chilled)

Preheat oven to *375.  Slice and pitt the plums. Put them into a microwave safe bowl and mix in the white sugar. Microwave for 3 minutes. (This just allows the plums to soften a bit before baking and help with the sweetening process)

Next, fold in the remainding ingredients for the filling until well combined. Pour into the unbaked pie crust.

Now in a bowl combine the ingredients for the topping. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in the chilled butter till it resembles coarse crumbs.  Sprinkle over the filling. Now bake for 50-60 minutes. About 30 minutes into baking, cover the edges of the crust with with either a pie shield or tin foil to prevent crust from over browning. Cool on a wire rack. This pie/tart is best served with ice cream (If you live in Texas I highly suggest blue bell ice cream, which I'm sure all you texans out there already now that!)

(Recipe adapted from all recipes)