Berry Best Birthday Pie!

This Saturday, August 14, 2010 we celebrated my Dad's birthday here at our house with a barbecue and some lovely summer berry pie! I asked my Dad what kind of fruit dessert he wanted and he told me that he wanted a berry pie. When I went to the farmer's market this Saturday there were so many delicious berries I couldn't choose- so I chose to make berry pie that included strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries! It is such a treat this time of year to be able to enjoy all of these! Below is a picture of my Dad with my son Adam and his birthday pie!


Again, I made my all butter pie crust and some different heart cut outs for this pie. I decided to combine a couple of thickening techniques for the filling of the pie and I was very pleased with the result. I began to think of the rhubarb custard pie which has 2 eggs and just a bit of flour to thicken the filling, so I wanted to try something similar for this pie. I decided to use tapioca flour since it is so smooth and not lumpy as well as some eggs in the filling.

This pie set up really well, and it was delicious! It let the true berry flavor come through without too much sugar!

Here is the recipe and my notes:

Quadruple Berry Pie:

-all butter crust + cut outs for a 9 inch pie shell

1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries- cut up into pieces
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1 1/2 cups blackberries
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

All Butter Pie Crust:

Pie Crust: Makes 2 large (10 inch) or 3 small (8 inch) single crust pies. ( I prefer my crust to be fairly thick and have a lot of room for crimping around the edge.)

5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 pound- 4 sticks cold butter cut into small pieces
1 cup ice water

Mix dry ingredients together in a food processor. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs appear. Pour in ice water slowly until combined. Make 2 large disks out of the dough & wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. After 1 hour let dough set on counter for about 15 to 20 minutes until pliable.

May be frozen as dough or made into pie crusts & frozen.

After your pie shell and cut outs are made (I made little heart cut outs but you may use any shape you like) proceed with the pie filling:

Pie Filling:

1. Put all of the berries into a large colander and rinse clean. Make sure to drain all of the water out.

2. Then, pour them into a bowl and mix with tapioca flour and sugar. Let them sit for about 5 minutes.

3. Drain off 1/2 cup or more of extra juice after this process. Then add eggs and mix.

4. Pour this mixture into the pie shell, top with pie dough cutouts. Top the cutouts with sugar.

5. Bake the pie at 375F in a regular oven for 25 minutes or in a convection oven at 350F for 30-40 minutes. Make sure that the crust browns evenly but does not get over-browned.

When I made this pie I drained off extra liquid after I mixed in the eggs, but I think it would be better if done beforehand. I was pleased that the pie did not leak over the sides too much because I drained some extra liquid off.


Enjoy your pie!