Jane From Piechef.com’s Red, White, and Blueberry Pie

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PIE-A-DAY #9

Make your Fourth of July preparations early this year with this recipe  from Jane in Concord, MA. She likes pie so much she developed a website devoted to pie recipes and pie stories.

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, always celebrated with great fanfare,so I figured, why not make a colorful pie to add to the festivities? Here in New England we keep our fingers crossed that we’ll still have fresh strawberries by July 4th. Usually our local blueberries aren’t quite in, but you can buy good imported ones or use frozen blueberries. I love the combination of fruits, but I particularly like being able to savor each flavor, so rather than mixing them, I arrange them in separate parts of the pie. Makes a lovely presentation and tastes great! Feel free to make this anytime, not just on July 4th!

Keep reading for the recipe…

Red, White, and Blueberry Pie
9” pie crust (see below), plus extra crust for pie crust art

4 cups strawberries

2 cups blueberries

1 cup sugar1/2 cup flour

1 TB lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.

Wash, hull, and slice strawberries and place in a large bowl. Wash blueberries and place in a medium bowl. Mix flour and sugar and add 1 cup of mixture to the strawberries, and 1/2 cup to the blueberries; stir to blend. Squeeze on a little bit of lemon juice on each fruit (about 1 TB total) and stir. Let sit for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to bring the juices out.

Mound the blueberries in the center of the pie crust, leaving the outer ring open. Then put the strawberries in a ring in the outer part of the pie crust (some will run together, but that’s OK). Use cookie cutters to make star shapes in crust and arrange them on top of the fruit.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 425. Lower heat to 325 and bake for about another 40-45 minutes. The fruits should be juicy and bubbling. The fruit may look too juicy, but this will firm up as it cools. If you want even more ‘white’ on your red, white, and blue pie, top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Since I like to fill my pies with lots of fruit, they sometimes spill over. To protect your oven, place an old baking sheet or some aluminum foil on the bottom rack ofthe oven.
Pie Crust Made in Food Processor
Many people are afraid to make their own pie crust, but it really isn’t hard (particularly if you have a food processor). I like to think of it as “4 Minutes, 4 Ingredients,” and I’ve even made a video to show you how to do it: http://piechef.com/crust/easy_pie_crust-video.html .

I love the taste of a butter pie crust with fruit pies. If you’re not eating butter, you can substitute a high quality shortening like Earth Balance vegan sticks. This recipe will make a bottom crust plus enough extra to cut out some stars (smaller and larger quantities, as well as variations such as hand made crusts or graham cracker crusts may be found at http://piechef.com/crust/index.html) .

1 ¼ stick (10 TB) cold butter

1 2/3 cups flourDash of salt

3 1/3 TB ice water

Cut the butter into about 12 pieces and place in food processor. Add the flour and salt. Pulse about 10-15 times until the mixture looks like small peas. With the processor running, add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Process until the dough begins to clump. (If you keep processing, it will eventually form one ball. This is cool to see, but too much processing can make the crust tough, so stop it early.)

Sprinkle a little flour on a cool, dry surface and place the dough on it. Rub a little flour onto the rolling pin so it won’t stick and roll the dough in a rough circle a little larger than the diameter of your pan. If the dough sticks, sprinkle on a little more flour. The dough should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Use a spatula to loosen the dough from the surface, and fold it in half and then quarters to make lifting it easy. Place in the pie pan and press to shape. If you’re so inclined, use your fingers or a fork to make a pretty edge on the crust.

Shape the remaining dough into a flat disk and roll out as above. Use star cookie cutters (different sizes are fine) and cut as many stars as you have dough and room for. Arrange them on top of the fruit before baking.

Submitted by Jane Fisher, owner, www.piechef.com37 Middle Street, Concord, MA 01742