Monday, March 31, 2014

a weekend of food + mixed berry pie recipe

This weekend was wonderful. I took Friday off from work, and I'd almost forgotten how glorious three day weekends can be. Shopping (which I've been doing way too much of lately- note to self: stay out of the mall), friends, family, and of course food. The highlight of the millions of calories I consumed this weekend came on Sunday morning.

I woke up thinking about pie (pregnant lady problems), and I've always been more of a fruit pie person than a chocolate or super, duper sweet pie person. As I was scrolling Pinterest in bed looking for dessert recipes Will got a text from his brother inviting us over for the first grill out of the season. Since it has finally warmed up, and our niece and nephew love fruit, I knew a berry pie would be just the way to go.

I looked up about 5 different recipes, made up my own, and off to Kroger we went. What resulted was absolutely delicious, and super easy to make. This pie was a huge hit. Will, myself, my brother and sister in law, our niece and nephew, and their friend all cleaned our plates. I will definitely be making this pie many more times this summer.

Below is what I ended up going with as a final recipe, and it resulted in 2 pies. Prep took me about 25 minutes, and baking time was about 45 minutes.

Triple Berry Pie


Ingredients

2 cartons fresh strawberries, quartered
1 carton fresh blueberries
1 carton fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup corn starch
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 lemon
2 tbsp vanilla extract
Pie crust of choice. I used the Pillsbury kind out of the box and it was amazing.

Directions

1. Combine all berries in a large mixing bowl. Add the juice and zest of one lemon, and 2 tbsp vanilla to fruit mixture. Mix well.
2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch in a separate mixing bowl.
3. Lay out bottom layer crusts in glass pie pans. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the cornstarch mixture along the bottom crust before adding filling.
4. Add remaining cornstarch mixture to berry mixture. Mix well until combined and let set for 15 minutes.
5. Fill pie pans with berry mixture.
6. Layer top pie crusts on top of berry mixture, and seal the edges with your fingers or a fork.
7. Scour the center of the top crusts to vent.
8. Mix together milk and egg to create egg wash. Brush top crusts with egg wash and sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of cinnamon+sugar mixture.
9. Place pies on a baking sheet, and bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.
10. Cover the edges of the pie crusts with foil, and bake for 20 more minutes at 350 degrees.


A Few Notes

I cooked these pies in separate ovens. If you have 2 in the same oven, it may require some extended cooking time. You can tell they're done with the crust is golden brown.

You'll need to let these sit for at least a couple of hours before eating so all the fruit and juices have time to set. Mine was still a little juicy, kind of like a cobbler. Next time I might try adding a tiny bit more cornstarch.

Any combination of berries, or frozen thawed instead of fresh, I'm sure would work just as well.

Sara McCarty said...

Mmmmm...pie. This looks amazing. Might have to try it this weekend. Mac loves fruit too, so I'm sure this would be a big hit. Thanks for the recipe!

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