Cherry Apricot Pie with Almond Streusel Topping

I confess, California got to me. While there, for a book club, I read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and, while not becoming fanatic, developed a desire to eat more locally and organically. So after we moved back to Utah, I looked up local organic farms. I ended up signing up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) weekly drop-off of a bag of organic produce from Borski Farms, a family-run farm in Kaysville.

It's been quite the fun adventure getting a bag of random produce every week and figuring out what to do with it. It has revealed my lack of veggie knowledge, though. I recognized rhubarb the first week I got it. I wanted to be efficient and use all parts of the vegetables they gave me, so I took a couple of the rhubarb leaves and plopped them onto a sandwich for lunch. Later that day, Mom told me that rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Whoops... (I did a bit of research, and you'd have to eat a good 11 pounds of the stuff for it to be really lethal, but best to be safe).

Then, later, when I was given some cherries and what I thought was rhubarb again, I wanted to make a cherry rhubarb pie. I was very disappointed when Mom and Dad broke the news that my rhubarb was actually Swiss Chard. Learning curve...

Anyway, one week I got both cherries and apricots in my bag, and I looked online recipes for cherry apricot pie. (That's one of my favorite things to do--to have random extra ingredients and search for a recipe to use them in.)

This one seemed the best. I made it on Saturday for a party with the Browns, and it was so delicious that I made it again today for my family to try. Enjoy!

Cherry Apricot Pie with Almond Streusel Topping

Ingredients

• FOR STREUSEL: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup crumbled almond paste (about 2 3/4 ounces)
• 1/4 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• FOR FILLING: 1 cup sugar
• 4 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pound Bing cherries, stemmed, pitted, halved (about 2 1/4 cups)
• 1 pound ripe apricots (about 6 medium-large), halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 wedges (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves
• TENDER PIE CRUST: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup frozen vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 5 tablespoons (or more) ice water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

1. FOR STREUSEL: Whisk flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt to blend in medium bowl. Add almond paste and butter. Rub in with fingertips until mixture begins to clump together. Add almonds and work in with fingertips until well incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)
2. FOR FILLING: Line baking sheet with foil; place in bottom of oven. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375ºF. Whisk sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in large bowl to blend well. Add cherries, apricots and apricot preserves and toss to blend well with sugar mixture. Let stand until juices form, about 20 minutes.
3. THE PERFECT TENDER PIE CRUST: Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix 5 tablespoons ice water and vanilla in small bowl; add to processor and blend using on/off turns until mixture begins to form moist clumps, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry.
4. Gather dough into 2 balls. Flatten each into disk; wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften dough slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)
5. TO ASSEMBLE: Roll out 1 pie crust disk on generously floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold crust edges under and crimp edges decoratively, forming high standing rim 1/2 to- 3/4-inch above sides of dish. Spoon filling into crust.
6. Bake pie 30 minutes. Cover edges with foil collar to prevent overbrowning. Bake pie until filling just begins to bubble at edges, about 15 minutes longer. Sprinkle streusel over top of pie. Continue to bake until crust and streusel are deep golden brown and filling bubbles thickly in center, about 45 minutes longer. Transfer to rack and cool at least 2 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream, if desired. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)
7. FOR A PRE-BAKED PIE CRUST: Line the pie dish with crust; crimp edges and bake at 375ºF. until golden and baked through and piercing crust in a few places with fork if crust bubbles, about 30 minutes. Cool and then fill with your choice of already prepared fillings, such as mousses, cream fillings, or lemon curd.