Double Crust Cherry-Blackberry Pie

Just to be clear: "double crust" is usually code for "extra calories." Especially when using a from-scratch crust. (I've found that the refrigerated crusts are fewer calories than the homemade ones). And especially when that crust is a 'Tender Cream Cheese Pastry' which includes two sticks of butter and an entire brick of full-fat cream cheese. Oof.

Inside the pie, the nutrition is pretty good - two pounds of berries sweetened with only a half-cup of sugar. The recipe calls for an even mix of sweet cherries and blackberries. The berries are frozen - the recipe calls for them to be partially thawed before baking - which is a very convenient and perfectly passable way to make berry pies in the 11 months of off-season. It would be a gut-busting shame to have to eat all your berry pies ever during the month of July.

I used tart cherries and most of a pound of blackberries, with an ounce or two of raspberries tossed in to make up the weight. I would definitely recommend you go with the sweet cherries, as the blackberries provide tartness enough for the pie.

A word of caution about the cream cheese pastry crust (which, like the pie, is also from Ken Haedrich's Pie): the double crust recipe makes a lot of dough, probably enough for three crusts. I didn't realize this until too late, but it rolls out very thick if just making two crusts, thick enough that I suspect it insulated the filling and prevented it from thickening properly. The crust also came out a bit on the greasy side, but it has promise.

Also on the subject of thickening, I would probably toss in some quick-cooking tapioca the next time. There was a significant quantity of juices inside the pie (but it helped the too-thick crust with a delicious berry juice soak!).

This was the first pie that I've used pie shields on. I added foil strips about 10 minutes before the end of a 60-65 minute bake time and was pleased with the result.

All in all, I don't think this is a bad pie at all; I just think I could do a few things better next time.

Blackberry Silk Pie

For every mountaintop, there has to be a valley, right? We've been hiking along the ridge for a few weeks now with some great pies. This week, however, I think we're off the trail.

Blackberry Silk Pie sounded so promising. I was thinking French Silk - yummy, creamy chocolateness - breeded with blackberries - sweet, tart, berryness - and expecting greatness. Instead, I got a purply wobbly mass in a pie shell - essentially, blackberry custard.

This is the pre-baking color

Custard, yum. Blackberries, yum. Blackberry custard, not so much.

Are we back in January?

The pie started out ominously like the sugar and cream pies I made for two months: eggs, sugar, heavy cream. The only spot of color was a blackberry purée, of which there is extra to enjoy over ice cream later.

The resultant mixture is an odd purple color. It would be pretty on fabric, perhaps, or an iris, but food? Not so much. The custard is poured into a par-baked crust and baked low and slow (300° for 60-75 minutes). Baking doesn't improve the color at all - the light purple inside is covered by a darkened purple puddingskin-like top layer.

Post-bake. It's only slightly prettier in real life.

I couldn't help but think "Barney pie" (or Grimace, I suppose)

Flavor-wise, this pie is okay. You can definitely taste blackberries, but the egg custard matrix is somewhat odd. The texture is like a soft baked custard - I thought it was fine but Tiffany couldn't take it. After my sample slice, we hurriedly distributed the pie to friends. I'll let you know what they think of it.

To sum up, we won't be keeping Blackberry Silk Pie as part of our baking repertoire. Save the blackberries to garnish the top of your plain custard, and I think you'll be happier with the results.

Wild Blueberry-Maple Pie (in a Cornmeal Crust)

A great pie to enjoy with coffee.

Ken Haedrich describes this pie as 'the best of New England' what with blueberries and maple syrup in it. I would think that some lobster, brown bread, and sharp cheddar cheese would be be required in addition, but that's a recipe for another day.

Aside from the lack of seafood, three things piqued my interest in this pie.

1. The cornmeal crust. I've always liked cornbread, corn muffins, etc. - a cornmeal crust has got to be good, right? More on this later.
2. The maple syrup. A wonderful flavor which does not tolerate imitation. Get the real stuff, folks.
3. The blueberries. Not really a novelty, I know, but this is one of the simplest pies I've tackled so far, and except for a couple of basic apple pies (which I haven't officially gotten to yet), this is the first of my fateful Thanksgiving pies to replicate.

Haedrich warns that the cornmeal crust is challenging to work with; I found it to be relatively simple, and pretty to boot. I used plenty of flour and, despite a few cracks here and there, had no problems. I even managed to fix my double crust problems from a couple weeks back - no berry explosions (out the side at least) this time.

The partially thawed berries (yes, frozen berries are fine) are combined with maple syrup, a bit of granulated sugar, and some cornstarch, then poured into the chilled bottom crust.

The top crust goes on, steam vents are cut in, then into the hotbox for just under an hour. As I mentioned above, my double crust edge sealing worked this time, but I had leaks from the steam vents that resulted in my blueberry pie having a nice Glaswegian smile.

Why so serious?

The original recipe for the cornmeal crust also warns that the edge browns quickly and that a pie shield or foil is advised. I used neither and I don't feel that the crust browned too much.

The biggest disappointment was the lack of strong maple flavor. If I thought about it really hard, I could perhaps convince myself that there was a hint of maple in there, but it wasn't forthcoming. I'm not sure how to amp up the flavor - perhaps add maple syrup to the crust?

Regardless, this is a really good blueberry pie and the cornmeal crust certainly adds to the overall package. I think this will be my go-to blueberry pie recipe for the future and I commend it to you with limited reservations. Just don't include 'maple' in the name and we'll get along just fine.

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Cornmeal Pastry Crust (adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich)

(measurements for a double crust; halve all for a single crust)

2.25 cups all-purpose flour
0.5 cups fine yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

0.25 cup cold cubed unsalted butter
0.5 cup cold vegetable shortening (e.g., Crisco)
0.5 cup cold buttermilk (I used whole milk)

Combine drys, cut in fat, moisten with milk. I used about ³⁄₈ cup of the milk to get the dough to a good consistency. Divide dough into two balls.

Knead dough a couple times, flatten and wrap, then chill at least one hour before rolling out.

This is a great crust with a definite cornmeal flavor and grittiness (in a good, rustic way). Haedrich suggests using this crust for harvest-type pies - pumpkin, cranberry, apple. I will certainly be trying some of those suggestions come the fall.

Breitbach's Raspberry Pie

I remember one summer, my sister and I wanted to make a strawberry pie. We had always seen whole-berry strawberry pies - you know, the ones with upside down raw berries covered with an ectoplasmic red fakey gel-sludge that sticks to your fork - but we wanted to make a strawberry pie more like an apple pie, with cooked fruit. If I remember correctly, the adults around us tried to dissuade us, but still assisted in the endeavor. I also seem to recall that it turned out okay.

I share that reminiscence with you simply because of the fact that today's pie includes cooked berries of even more fragility than a ripe strawberry. Breitbach's Raspberry Pie, named for a popular café in Iowa, includes both raspberries and blackberries, but it's definitely the raspberries that come through most strongly in the flavor.

This is really a simple pie: berries, sugar, and tapioca in a double crust. The filling is very firm before it is baked, and it is a refreshing shade of deep red-pink. Never mind the little white flecks - that's just the tapioca, waiting to absorb all those lovely berry juices.

And, now it's apparent that I need work on my double crust skills. I failed to seal the edges properly and the filling exploded all over the pan, my drip tray in the oven, and the oven itself (not to mention the top of the stove after I pulled it out AND my oven mitts!).

This is not what your pie should look like.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, however, and nobody complained about this pie. Trust me, it tastes the same regardless of whether it leaks or not. The raspberry flavor is deliciously intense, although some of my testers found it a bit too sweet and jam-like. I will be trying this one again in the summer with fresh berries, and I may play around with reducing (or eliminating!) the sugar to see how the flavor goes.

I heartily recommend this pie to you - just take your time and close up your crust properly!

Next time: The pie too good to eat.

Blueberry-Yogurt Cheese Pie

Do you like cheesecake? Do you like cheesecake with blueberry topping? Do you like the caloric bomb that (really good) cheesecake drops on your diet?



If you answered, like me, 'yes', 'yes', and 'not really' to the above, you simply must try this pie. The recipe has a lot of steps, and you need to be sure to start this at least the day before you serve, but it's not really as complicated as it seems.

Crust: Prebake a graham cracker crust in a 9-inch pie plate.

Cheese Layer: Drain 32 ounces of the best plain yogurt you can find (full-fat is recommended - I used Stonyfield Farm's Whole Milk Yogurt) for at least 12 hours. Line a colander with cheesecloth, dump in the yogurt, set it over a bowl, and stick it in the back of your fridge.

Berry Layer: Combine 3¹⁄₂ cups IQF blueberries, ¹⁄₈ cup orange juice, and ¹⁄₃ cup white sugar and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, until the berries have released a good bit of juice.

In a small bowl, stir together another ¹⁄₈ cup orange juice, 2 tablespoons of white sugar, and 1¹⁄₂ tablespoons of cornstarch until dissolved; stir into berries and bring to a boil until thickened (about 90 seconds). Remove from  heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice.

Turn out berry mixture into a wide container (a spare pie plate worked well for me), cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Assembly: Transfer drained yogurt to a medium bowl and stir in ¹⁄₃ cup powdered sugar and ¹⁄₄ teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Spoon sweetened yogurt cheese into the chilled pie shell, smoothing it over the bottom and up the sides. Spoon the chilled blueberry mixture over the yogurt and smooth out the top of the pie. Garnish with a dollop of the extra yogurt and long threads of lemon zest (if you're into that sort of thing). Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

-adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich

Let me just say that after two months of pies that ranged from white to cream to light yellow, working with blueberries was refreshing visually.They stained my wooden spoon, but to tell the truth, I wouldn't mind dyeing the rest of the spoon that color!

As I started out suggesting, this pie is reminiscent of cheesecake, only lighter. The tang of the yogurt stands in well for cream cheese, and the sweetness of the berries is sufficient to carry the entire show.

This is how your yogurt cheese should look

I will caution you that this pie does not keep - and I'm not just being euphemistic here. I brought the pie together for a Sunday morning potluck, so it was assembled and ready to go Saturday night and stored in the fridge. The graham crust tends to get soggy and weepy after just hours, and the whole thing slumps into a glorious mess. I might try it again with a short stint in the freezer before serving to see if it holds up better and slices more cleanly.

That said, don't be afraid to scoop out a portion with a spoon - it still tastes wonderful even if it's not the prettiest thing on the plate. And the taste is what counts in the end, right?

Some of the last bits. This is how it's supposed to look.