Berry Cherry Pie that screams Spring, even if you’re still in Bomb Cyclone mode! Made with previously frozen berries, and a homemade all-butter, super flaky crust
Hi Everybody!!
It’s Pi(e) Day! Get it, March 14, 3.14??? There are a lot of made-up food holidays, like Pancake Day or Corn-on-the-Cob Day that are kind of trivial, but Pie Day?? This is IMPORTANT!
I’m not embarrassed to say that I’d been thinking about what kind of pie to make for about two weeks. Something indulgent with chocolate or cream, or a traditional fruit pie?? Or the unexpected savory pie…there were a lot of things to consider. That was basically the only thing keeping me going, because it’s officially mid March, and there are still inches of snow on the ground, and below freezing temps. My S.A.D. is raging. My choices were either bake a Spring-inspired pie or get one of those insane lamps that deliver huge amounts of Vitamin D. I went with a Strawberry Blueberry Cherry Pie, and wore a t-shirt ALL day to boost morale.
So, as we all know, the good berries and fruit only emerge when the weather warms up. I really wanted a fruit pie, so I made this crazy delicious pie with frozen berries and cherries! Out of the freezer! It kind of felt like a spring cleaning/freezer clean-out session since I had half-full bags of all kinds of berries that I usually throw in smoothies. Frozen berries are usually flash-frozen when they’re at their peak ripeness in the spring and summer. I defrosted them first, and strained as much extra juice out as I could (drank the juice, hello? berry juice!). Then I added some lemon zest, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and cornstarch to thicken up the filling. Truly worked like a charm, sweet enough to taste like Spring, and actually so much better than the sour plastic-like berries that are in the grocery stores in the winter.
Let’s talk about pie crust for a minute. Now that I figured out how to make a crazy-easy, no fancy equipment required, flaky, all-butter, fool proof pie crust, that’s the only way I [roll :)] now. Make sure that the butter and ice water are super cold. I use my fingers to smoosh up the little cubes of butter into the flour, so the butter is coated in flour. Then I add the ice water, and mix gently until just combined, wrap the dough in plastic, chill, and you’re good to go!
I’m seriously so excited to be “meeting” more of you on Instagram and here on the blog! I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see you all making recipes from the blog and sharing them, thank you SO much! Remember to tag your pics with #lionsbread so I can see them all
Strawberry Blueberry Cherry Lattice Pie
A Berry Cherry Pie that screams Spring, even if you're still in Bomb Cyclone mode! Made with previously frozen berries, and a homemade all-butter, super flaky crust
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 2 c AP flour
- 3 T brown sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 pound (2 stick) very cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 4-5 T ice water
- Filling:
- 2 c frozen strawberries, thawed and drained
- 2 c frozen blueberries, thawed and drained
- 2 c frozen cherries, thawed and drained
- zest of 1 small lemon, finely grated
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 packed brown sugar
- 2.5 T cornstarch
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
- 1 T turbinado sugar
Directions
- Step 1 Place the berries and cherries in a strainer, and let them thaw. Save the juice for cocktails or smoothies.
- Step 2 Make the crust: In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt, and whisk to combine. Add the cold cubed butter. Using your clean fingers, smoosh the cubes of butter into the flour, coating each cube with flour. Add the ice water, and stir gently to combine, until the dough just starts to come together, but you should still see pea-sized pieces of butter. Dump half of the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, and use the plastic to push the dough together into a ball. Wrap tightly, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
- Step 3 In a medium-sized bowl, combine the well-strained berries and cherries, lemon zest, vanilla, brown sugar, and cornstarch.
- Step 4 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray, set aside. Roll out 1 crust on a well-floured surface to about an 11-inch circle. Gently lay the crust over the rolling pin to transfer to the prepared pie plate, and unroll. Don’t trim edges yet! Next, roll out the top crust to an 11-inch circle, and cut 1-inch thick strips.
- Step 5 Pour the filling in the bottom crust, holding back any extra juices that may be at the bottom of the bowl.
- Step 6 Weave the strips across the top of the filling, then press the edges of crust together, and crimp to make a decorative edge. Brush the top and edges of the pie with the beaten egg, and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar.
- Step 7 Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for another 40 minutes or until deeply golden brown. Allow to cool on a rack.