Berry Pie

As my gift to my mom this year for Mother's Day, I offered to make her any kind of meal that she wanted for dinner.  For dessert, she chose a berry pie—a great seasonal choice for the height of springtime's berry yield, which happens to coincide with Mother's Day.  So a happy belated Mother's Day to all the great moms out there (especially mine): This one's for you.

This recipe is adapted from another one of my favorite cookbooks, The Artful Pie.  Sadly, it is out of print, but definitely worth tracking down.  This particular recipe has been adapted to include less refrigeration time (seriously, I don't have time to refrigerate after every step, though I wish I did) and a wider mix of berries.  Why limit yourself?

First, the crust—buttery, flaky, and on the verge of shortcake.

You'll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, straight from the fridge, cut up into 1/2 tbsp. pats

12-14 tbsp. cold water

First off, the most important thing about making a pie crust is to make sure all your ingredients are COLD.  Once things heat up, the butter blends into the flour, making a tough crust.  I've learned this from experience.  So try to work fast, keep the kinetic energy down (not too much stirring), and, if your hands get too warm, run them under cold water.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour and salt.  Add the entire cup of cut-up butter in one go, cutting it into the flour with a pastry cutter (I love this tool) or two forks.  You want your dough to look like really course breadcrumbs, and, as soon as you achieve this, you should stop.

Sprinkle the dough with the cold water, using the lesser amount (12 tbsp.) to begin.  Stir the dough with a wooden spoon, just until the dough begins to look like, well, dough.  If it's too dry, add 1 tbsp. of cold water at a time and mix to incorporate.

Using cool hands, knead the dough for just a few seconds, until it comes together into a ball.  As this recipe calls for a double crust—a top and bottom layer—divide the dough into two portions, flatten the dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic.  Your portions of dough should be slightly uneven, with the larger portion reserved for the bottom crust.  Refrigerate immediately, for at least twenty minutes.  In the meantime, it's time to make the filling.

You'll need:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon

3 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup fresh blackberries

1 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Wash all of your berries and make sure that the stems of the blueberries are removed.  Nobody wants to find a blueberry stem in their pie.

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, nutmeg, salt, and lemon juice.  This will be the binding material for your filling.

Stir in the berries gently.  Your raspberries will likely get pulverized anyway, but that's okay.  Put aside your filling.

Butter a 9-inch pie pan and put it aside.

Time to get out the larger portion of crust dough.  Sprinkle your counter and rolling pin with flour, then place the dough disk on the floured area.  Roll out a circle about 11 inches in diameter, or about 2 inches larger than your pan.

Lift the dough circle into the pie pan.  It doesn't have to look particularly beautiful, because now it's time to trim the edges of the dough with a sharp knife, so only about an inch hangs over the pan.  You can use any leftover dough to patch holes that might have appeared.

Pour the filling into the pie crust.  Dot the top of the filling with butter.

Crust, round two.  Roll out the smaller piece of dough to about 10 inches in diameter, then place on top of the pie.  Trim the edges, seal together the bottom and top of the crusts, and crimp it in a stylish manner (basically just make sure the seal sticks).  Cut 6-8 slits in the top of the pie so that the steam can escape while baking—so it doesn't explode—and sprinkle the top of the pie with a little sugar.  It should look like this:

Your crust might be a little more beautiful than mine, what can I say?  At this point, your pie is going to be heavy (about 3-5 pounds, like a big chicken), so be prepared.

This got really heavy, really fast.  Please do not drop on your foot.

Bake in the over for about 50 minutes, or until the filling starts to bubble up through the vents and the top is well browned.

For optimum eating conditions, wait about an hour before attempting to slice and consume.  Just know that greedy hands may appear at your house too:

But the wait will be worth it, as it gives time for the crust to settle into crispiness and the filling to no longer be molten.  Here's a look at the inside of the pie:

And here's a look at some hungry parents who love pie:

Sigh.

Happy eating!