“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him … the people who give you their food give you their heart.” — Cesar Chavez
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The food blogging community is one of the kindest, most gracious, most caring and friendliest I’ve ever been a part of. This past weekend, when I met with a few food bloggers from near and far for a pizza/pie party at Zoë Francois’s lovely home, the sentiment was only further confirmed. These are my people, and I am so incredibly blessed to know them.
Per the request of our hosts, Sonja and Alex of A Couple Cooks, we (Sarah of The Vanilla Bean Blog, Melissa of The Fauxmartha, Erin of Naturally Ella and I) were to bring either toppings for pizza or fillings for a pie for the gathering. I, of course, jumped on the dessert train — and everyone else went with pizza. Ummm, Stephanie making pie alone for all of the food bloggers = VERY NERVOUS STEPHANIE. I might have disembarked from the dessert train out of fear, but Zoë was providing the pie dough and I really needed to try that pie dough (which was two-thirds butter to one-third lard, by the way, a.k.a. Life. Changing).
Thankfully, just as was the company, the pie turned out to be pretty outstanding.
This version I am sharing with you has a few tweaks from what I made on Saturday — it’s made with a hazelnut flour crust (so it’s gluten free, babyyyy) and the filling has a bit more cornstarch for binding purposes. I also added a wee bit more crystallized ginger because I love the flavor profile that comes through when paired with the tart, juicy plums. It’s a simple fruit pie without any fanfare or frill, and it tastes delicious hot, warm or cold, for dessert or for breakfast. I enjoyed it both with a dollop of lavender ginger whipped cream (basically heavy cream whipped with this magic mixture) and on its own. I had some leftover plums so I’m going to be making my fruit pizza recipe next!
Of course, I also highly recommend serving it to good friends, new or old. It just tastes better that way.
P.S. Hugest of thank yous to Emile Henry, J.K. Adams, Lekue, General Mills and Red Star Yeast for the wonderful gifts provided to us!
Plum Pie with Hazelnut Crust

Ingredients
For the hazelnut crust:
- 2 cups hazelnut flour
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled, cubed
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk , or heavy cream
For the pie:
- 7 cups plums, pitted and sliced, about 10 plums
- ⅓ cup turbinado sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped
Instructions
- To make the crust: Add ingredients to a food processor. Pulse just until a dough forms. Shape dough into a disk about 5 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill in fridge at least 15 minutes.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, toss sliced plums with sugar and cornstarch.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Press dough into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Arrange plums in pie plate (or if you're into a more rustic look, just pour the plums into the pie plate). Sprinkle with crystallized ginger.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes until crust is a deep brown and plums are soft and juicy. Cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

What a great group of friends!
What a wonderful + inspiring gathering of ladies! The perfect way to spend a Saturday. This pie sounds really wonderful too; I love the idea of that hazelnut crust too!
Sounds like such a fun night! And that pie, boy oh boy, what I would do for a slice of that! 🙂
Such an incredibly lovely gathering! I need to find myself some fabulous food blogger friends in DC to cook with 🙂 Your pie looks simply amazing…
What a wonderful evening…and I couldn’t agree more. And this pie? Gorgeous!
ginger and plums? you typed the magic words
Adri — I only wish I’d known about the deliciousness that is ginger in pie sooner! So good!
Sonja — WAY too short! Yes, a winter gathering is necessary. 🙂