Skip to content
Pinch of Mint
Search recipes

Classic plum pie

Classic plum pie, photographed for Pinch of Mint

By Tom · Updated

Jump to recipe
  • About 1 hour 50 min
  • Takes a bit of care

Classic plum pie is comfort food at it's best. Beautifully flavoured with orange zest and ground clove, in a buttery sweet pastry. You can eat this pie hot or cold and serve it with many things such as homemade custard, pouring cream, or vanilla ice cream.

How to make it

The 2 photographs published with this recipe, in the order they appeared.

  1. Classic plum pie, photographed for Pinch of Mint
    Photo 1
  2. Classic plum pie, photographed for Pinch of Mint
    Photo 2

The recipe

Classic plum pie

Classic plum pie is comfort food at it's best. Beautifully flavoured with orange zest and ground clove, in a buttery sweet pastry.

  • 20 min prep
  • 1 hour cooking
  • 30 min hands-off
  • Takes a bit of care

Times and difficulty are our estimates from the method, not stopwatch figures.

Quantities
Measurements

Ingredients

The sweet pastry

The plum pie filling

You will also need

Tick things off as you go — they stay ticked if you close the page.

A dotted underline means the amount has been rounded to something you can measure.

Method

  1. Step 1

    Let's start with the sweet pastry, place the plain flour (225 g), icing sugar (75 g), unsalted butter (115 g) and egg yolks (2 yolks) into a food processor.

  2. Step 2

    Pulse the ingredients until they come together to form a dough. You can make this pastry by hand. If you'd like to see the method check out my Cinnamon Spiced Apple Pie Recipe.

  3. Step 3

    Form the pastry into a ball and wrap with parchment paper. Place in the fridge to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. Let's make the filling.

  4. Step 4

    For the filling, begin by cutting the plums (600 g) in half and removing the stones, then cut each half in half again. So you will end up with each plum cut into quarters.

  5. Step 5

    Place the plums (600 g) into a saucepan followed by the sugar, ground cloves (¼ tsp) and orange (1) zest. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the plumbs become juicy. Rought 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

  6. Step 6

    In a separate small bowl, squeeze the juice of the orange (1) and mix it with a tablespoon of cornflour (1 tbsp).

  7. Step 7

    Add the orange (1) juice and cornflour (1 tbsp) mix into the pan with the plums (600 g) and stir. Cook for a further 5 minutes and then remove from the heat. The mix will become a lot thicker so remember to stir during the last 5 minutes to avoid it burning on the bottom.

Assemble the pie

  1. Step 1

    Assemble the pie in a 20cm round pie dish. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry to around 3mm thick for the base and side. Line the pie dish with the pastry leaving a little overhang around the edge.

  2. Step 2

    Fill the the pastry with the plum (600 g) filling. Roll out the other third of pastry for the lid.

  3. Step 3

    Beat and egg and lightly brush some around the top of the pastry with the filling in. Then, place the lid over the top and press to secure it around the edges. Trim off the excess pastry.

  4. Step 4

    Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and sprinkle with caster sugar (100 g) before going into the oven. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C or fan 180°C for 35 - 40 minutes until golden brown and the pastry is crisp.

Stay in the loop

Get new recipes in your inbox

Occasional emails with new recipes, cooking tips and what’s new at Pinch of Mint.

See our Privacy Policy for information about how your personal data is used.

More vegetarian puddings and bakes

Questions people ask

How long does classic plum pie take?

About 1 hour 50 min from start to finish: 20 min of prep, 1 hour of cooking, and 30 min hands-off while it waits. That figure is worked out from the method rather than timed with a stopwatch, so give yourself a little more the first time.

How much does this make?

The original recipe did not state a yield, so nothing has been invented for it. The scale control on the recipe card multiplies the quantities instead, which is the honest version of the same thing.

Can I see the ingredients in ounces and pints?

Yes. The metric and imperial switch on the recipe card converts every quantity, rounded to amounts you can actually weigh or measure rather than to four decimal places. Your choice is remembered for every recipe on the site.

Is it vegetarian?

Yes, as written. If you are cooking for a strict vegetarian, the one to check is the cheese: several hard cheeses are made with animal rennet.