While I don’t have any firsthand experience with the art form, I’m an avid admirer of block printing. I could easily fritter away my livelihood purchasing textiles featuring repetitive geometric motifs in idiosyncratic color combinations—aside from potato chips, they’re my most compulsive impulse buys. To maintain a semblance of financial solvency, I resort to creating my own block print–inspired goods through the more economical medium of pie dough. I may not be able to hang my creations on the wall, but enveloping a pie in a peppy print is a pretty awesome consolation prize.
1 disk Beet Pie Dough
2 disks Nutella Pie Dough
CHERRY FILLING
6 cups (2½ pounds/1.1 kilograms) pitted fresh or frozen sweet cherries, such as Bing or Rainier
¾ cup (149 grams) granulated sugar
⅓ cup (38 grams) tapioca starch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
SEMICIRCLE TILE DESIGN NEEDS
Parchment paper
1-inch circle cutter
1 small bowl of water
Pastry brush
Paring knife
1. On a floured surface, roll the disk of beet dough into a 12-inch circle. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and unfurl it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Using a 1-inch circle cutter, punch out at least 70 shapes. Remove the dough scraps. Use a paring knife to cut each circle in half. If your knife is sticking to the dough or not cutting cleanly, tap the blade in flour before slicing.
2. Slide a flat baking sheet under the parchment and chill the dough in the refrigerator.
3. Roll one disk of Nutella dough into a 13-inch circle. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and unfurl it onto a sheet of parchment paper.
4. Gently lay a ruler horizontally across the center of the Nutella dough as a straight line reference. Remove the beet shapes from the refrigerator. Starting from the left, brush a small section of the Nutella dough with water and place a beet semicircle with the straight edge flush against the ruler. Lay its mirror image just above with the curved edges of the semicircles touching. Next, place a beet semicircle upright with its straight edge to the left. Place the mirror image of this last piece to the right with its straight edge facing right. Continue placing beet semicircle tiles in this alternating pattern until an entire row has been completed.
5. Proceed with placing rows of tiles above and below, alternating the directional placement of the tiles, until the surface of the Nutella dough has been largely covered.
6. Use a paring knife or shape cutter to cut one or two vent holes. I like to follow the tile pattern with semicircle vents to camouflage the cutouts, but take liberties to ventilate as preferred. I often forget this step, and the suffocated pie filling will give me a piece of its mind during baking by puffing up the pie top so severely as to cause an unsightly crack or a bulbous baked surface. Best to let the filling air its grievances freely.
7. Slide a flat baking sheet under the parchment and freeze the pie top for at least 30 minutes or until it can be easily lifted as one piece. Once the pie top has frozen solid, it can be wrapped well and used to top a pie at a later time. A well-sealed pie top will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Handle frozen pie tops gently, as they can shatter.
8. Roll the second disk of Nutella dough into a 14-inch circle. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and unfurl it over a 9-inch pie pan. Taking the edges of the dough, gently ease the dough into the pan, nestling it into the inner elbows of the pie pan. Trim the excess dough with kitchen shears to create a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang back under, creating an elevated edge.
9. To prepare the cherry filling, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and fold with a spatula to coat the fruit in the sugar mixture.
10. Scoop the filling into the prepared pie shell, doming the fruit in the center. Lightly brush water around the edge of the pie.
11. Remove the frozen pie top from the freezer, pick it up as one solid piece, and lay the frozen dough centered on the surface of your filled pie. Let it sit for a few minutes to thaw slightly and settle. Press to seal the edges and run a paring knife around the edge to trim the excess dough.
12. Chill the entire pie in the freezer until the oven has come to temperature. The pie can be frozen solid before baking or simply chilled through, about 20 minutes.
13. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
14. When the oven has come to temperature, remove the pie from the freezer and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the pie for 25 minutes, then rotate the pie 180 degrees and lower the oven temperature to 350°F. If the edges are already brown, cover with a shield. If the beet tiles begin to brown excessively, rest a sheet of foil lightly on top. Continue baking until the filling is bubbling in the center, checking every 30 minutes to rotate the pie and adjust the shields as necessary, 80 to 100 total minutes. (If baking from frozen, add 30 to 45 minutes to the bake time.)
15. Cool the pie completely on a rack before slicing and serving.
SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTIONS
Dough alternatives: Basic, Black Sesame, Blueberry, Butterfly Pea Flower, Cornflower, Dragon Fruit