Blackberry Pie #35

As you might recall, I mentioned earlier that Kim, my cute mother in-law, lives on an island covered in blackberry bushes. She's made a lot of blackberry pies in her day and my husband has been the lucky recipient of many of those. 

So, for his birthday, he requested one of his favorites from home: a blackberry pie. And luckily (despite all of the peach pie disasters lately), it turned out great. Nice crust, great filling, and not runny at all. (Woo hoo!)

Though despite how good it was, even after it was baked, you could tell that the blackberries were from the store. I know that's werid, but I feel like anyone that has eaten a blackberry from a bush and a blackberry from a store knows that there is a difference. It's not always horrible or anything, it's just different. (That's not just me, right?)

Not that I'm that surprised; of course they are much, much better freshly picked than they are from the store. But I was just curious, does anyone know why? Even the ones I bought from the farmers market a few weeks ago were better than the store-bought ones but still...um...something was off. 

Is it the pesticides? Is is the amount of time from bush to mouth? Is there a different variety of blackberry here in the East than in the Pacific Northwest? Does anyone but me wonder about these things?

Any way, it was a good pie. I liked it and I would make it again and again. It was a near perfect consistency (which, in itself, was a confidence boost) and fairly easy. A keeper for sure.

I guess I only wanted to pose this question about blackberries since all of my intense blackberry research (i.e. that time that I googled a question about their taste) resulted in information about BlackBerry phones rather than blackberry bushes so I never really came up with an answer. And so I'm asking you, my readers (hoping that you have a bigger brain than google--or really my brain + google's), do you know how to get a good blackberry, even if there isn't a bush nearby? 

I need your help. I figure I'm not due for an answer anytime soon since I live on an island full of BlackBerrys, rather than blackberry bushes.

Blackberry Pie

(adapted from epicurious.com)

Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
6 cups blackberries (1 3/4 lb)

1 to 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon sanding (coarse) or granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS:
For pastry: blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with rest in small (roughly pea-size) lumps. Drizzle 4 tablespoons ice water evenly over and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in processor) until incorporated. Gently squeeze a small handful: It should hold together without crumbling apart. If it doesn't, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) after each addition until incorporated, continuing to test. (Do not overwork dough or it will become tough.)

Turn dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather each portion of dough and form it, rotating on a work surface, into a disk. Wrap disks separately in wax paper and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

For filling: Preheat Oven to 400°F.

Toss together berries, granulated sugar to taste, cornstarch, butter, lemon juice, water, and tapioca. Let stand, tossing occasionally, 20 minutes.

Roll out 1 piece of dough into a 14-inch round and fit into a 9-inch pie plate (4-cup capacity). Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Chill shell while rolling out top.

Roll out remaining piece of dough into a roughly 16- by 11-inch rectangle. Cut crosswise into 11 (1 1/4-inch-wide) strips with a fluted pastry wheel or a knife.

Stir berry mixture, then spoon evenly into shell. Arrange strips in a tight lattice pattern on top of filling and trim strips close to edge of pan. Roll up and crimp edge. Brush top and edge with egg white and sprinkle all over with sugar.

Bake on baking sheet until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. (Check pie after 45 minutes: If edge of crust is browning too quickly, cover edge with foil or a pie crust shield and continue baking.) Cool completely on a rack before serving.

Vanilla Peach #34

Thoughts I have while baking pies:

While I'm putting the pie together:
Really? That much flour? I don't know...hmmm...I think it should be a little more/less.
Ugh, should I follow the recipe as written? Should I put in just a little bit more...?

While the pie is cooking:
Did I put enough flour in? Oh dear, should I have used tapioca flakes? Cornstarch? Ugh, I hate cornstarch, but um maybe I should have used cornstarch...hmmm....

While checking the pie at the end:
Is it bubbling? I wouldn't really call that "thickly bubbling" like the recipe says...but it is bubbling?...hmmm...ten more minutes? ...okay...ten more minutes...

Ten minutes later:
Okay, I see some "thick" bubbles, but why isn't the middle bubbling? hmmm...ten more minutes again???? 

(And on and on and on until I feel like the pie is adequately bubbling and/or the crust won't hold out any longer.)

So I don't want to make a list of the many things I spend time worrying about, but clearly, (from this long train-of-thought account) I'm a big-time worrier about soupy pies. It's probably number two on my list of pie crimes (bad taste being the number one). 

Don't be confused, making pies is not a frustrating activity. I love making crusts, I love cutting fruit,  I love cooking pie, I love the lingering aroma of pie in our apartment, I love sharing pies with people, I love how many people I've met in the last 9 months who LOVE pie and become an insta-friend because of it. I love everything to do with pie...but I admit, there is this looming desperation crowding my thoughts until we reach the crowning moment in any pie's life: when it's finally cut into; the crust breaks; and, hopefully, find out that the filling isn't runny. It's in that moment that all the worrying and work was worth it and, only then, can I let out a sigh of relief.

However, this pie did not result in any such sigh of relief.

It was a mess.

I think I spent too many "ten minutes" worrying about how it hadn't bubbled in the middle, thus cooking it too long (I think a first for me) and making canned peaches in a crust. This--you can imagine--makes it one of the worst pies of the year. 

(Sorry, my dear old roommate and husband who had to suffer through that one.)

It was a bomb and a disgrace to the beautiful peaches that I'd picked from the Farmers Market.

I still have faith that this is a good recipe, though I did not do it justice. So, please, if you do try it, I'd love to hear how it goes for you.
Vanilla Peach Pie
(adapted from Bubby's Pie Book)
Ingredients:
All-butter crust recipe (see here)Filling:
1 Vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 pounds peaches, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 lemon, zested and juiced
pinch salt
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom
Tiny pinch ground cloves
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
sugar, for sprinkling on the top crust

DIRECTIONS:
Roll out the pastry and line a 9-inch pie tin with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Rechill the pastry if necessary.

To remove the skin of the peach, first make an 'X' in the base of the peach with a sharp knife so you have a place to start peeling. Gently drop the peach into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds. With a slotted spoon, remove from water and plunge the peach into ice water. Once cooled for a minute or two, the skin should easily peel away from the flesh. Slice peaches into 1/2-inch spears and cover with lemon juice.

Preheat the oven to 450F

Scrape the fine black seeds from the center of each vanilla bean half by running a knife blade along the cut face of the pod on a cutting board. Be thorough and get all the gummy inside of the vanilla bean on the knife. In a large bowl, combine the vanilla seeds with the peaches, sugar, flour, lemon zest, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Mix the fruit filling lightly, as little as possible, to just get the ingredients dispersed. Scrape the filling into the bottom crust, dot the top of the fruit with the butter, and cover it with the second crust. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer. Cut vent slits in the top crust and sprinkle it lightly with sugar.

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375F, and bake 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the slits in the top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side to enhance the flavor. Store the pie uncovered at room temperature, up to 3 days.

Plum Blackberry Pie #33

I liked this pie.

I mean, I really liked this one.

And I'm not just saying that because my peach blueberry pie was such a tragedy (blerg). This pie had a great tang, wonderful texture, delicious topping, and I loved the deep purple juices it produced. With plums and blackberries peaking right about now, I would definitely recommend that you try this pie.

When I was at the farmers market, there were a plethora of plums and I didn't know which to use...so I used them all. How's that for ingenious? Or maybe it was ingeneous...either way I feel like you can't go too wrong mixing several varities of one fruit for any pie. Also, there wasn't one particular variety that stood out in the so I don't think that it would make too much of a difference which plums you use as long as they are firm and tart.

This is only my second crumble crust, but I think they're easy and delicious--though I tend to like anything with a sugary/oaty crumble on top. Tell me, how can you go wrong with equal parts of sugar, butter, and oats? And then put fruit underneath? It's impossible. I dare you to find a bad crumble--on second thought, please don't. I wouldn't want anything to do with a bad crumble.

Any way, I know that asthetically they're not as beautiful, but the taste always wins me over and even with Ryan being a skeptic (because he generally doesn't like crumble topped goods), he really liked it too. And with that recommendation, I think it has the potential to win just about everyone over.

Plum Blackberry Pie

(Adapted from epicurious.com)

Pastry:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/3 cup plus 1 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Filling:

1 3/4 pound ripe plums, pitted and quartered

3/4 pound blackberries (2 cups)

1  cup sugar

3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

Topping

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits

DIRECTIONS:

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 1/3 cup ice water over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful of dough:

If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a ball. Divide in half and form into 2 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Toss plums and blackberries with 1 cup sugar, tapioca, cornstarch, zest, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl.

Roll out dough into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Fit into pie plate. Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhang under and press against rim of pie plate, then crimp decoratively. Chill while making streusel.

Stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture forms small clumps.

Mound filling in shell. Crumble streusel evenly over filling.

Bake pie until streusel is golden and filling is bubbling, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Cool completely, 3 to 4 hours.

Peach Blueberry Pie #32

I'm not sure what happened to this pie. I tried, people. I tried. But clearly I didn't try hard enough.

I've been looking forward to this pie since I started this experiment and it really didn't work out. It was one of the soupiest pies that we've had. The day we made this pie (and I mean "we" because I enlisted Ryan's help and we also had an audience--consisting of several of my nieces and nephews--who was watching our every move and sneaking pie dough when our backs were turned), we also made at least 4 other pies.

There was a small army of family flocking to my parent's house for dessert that night and we wanted to provide.

Luckily all the pies worked out well. This one, however, was not worth the sweet Utah peaches that we put into it. The taste wasn't awful, but no one (besides me, of course) even wanted to try it because it looked like a peach soup with pie crust croutons.

Not exactly how I wanted to show off for my family 2,000 miles away.

But then again, I'm happy for the learning experience.

Any way, I'm guessing that somehow we overlooked the thickener, or the recipe didn't call for enough, or maybe we cooked the peaches too long? I don't know. I'm still working on a solution and luckily peaches are still in season, so this is not the last time I'll visit this subject.

However, if you try this recipe, know that the crust is awesome and the taste is great too--just make sure you put that cornstarch in (and maybe a spoonful of flour as well...just for good measure).

Peach Blueberry Pie
(Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence)

Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rollingFilling:
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, zested and finely grated
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed


2 pounds peaches, pitted and sliced
1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
1 egg, beaten with a drizzle of water

DIRECTIONS:
For pastry--Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix with a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk and ice water and work that in with your hands. (Or do the whole thing in a food processor, pulsing a couple of times to combine the dry ingredients, then pulsing in the butter, and then the egg.)

Check the consistency of the dough by squeezing a small amount together between thumb and forefingers: You want there to be just enough moisture to bind the dough so that it holds together without being too wet or sticky. If it's still crumbly, add a little more ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time. When you get it to the right consistency, shape the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic. Put it in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Move the oven rack to the bottom third of the oven.

Divide the dough in half and set one half aside; cover it with a towel or plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 10-inch round. Loosely drape the dough round over the rolling pin and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Press the dough over the bottom and sides of the pan. Trim the edges to about 1/2-inch.

Toss the fruit with the sugar, lemon, and cornstarch. Pile the fruit into the pie shell and dot with the butter. Roll out the reserved dough to a 9 to 10-inch round and lay it over the fruit. Trim, and crimp the edges. Cut 2 or 3 (2-inch) vents in the top of the pie and brush with the egg glaze. Put the pie on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown and the juices are bubbling up through the vents, 50 to 60 minutes. Cover the edges with aluminum foil if they brown too fast. Cool on a rack before serving. 

Currant Raspberry Pie #31

Although I've been making pies every week, my updating has been pretty sub-pare because of traveling, work, and some other projects. Maybe you've noticed...
But it's finally time to get current!
(Sorry. Dumb pun.)

I made this pie back in July and up until that point, I had never eaten a red currant before. However, I kept seeing currants at the farmers market and I fell in love with their deep color. I just think they look delicate and delicious--like little red pearls. And while they are unfortunately too perishable for jewelry, they do make a delicious pie, especially when coupled with raspberries.

The filling was sour, and the currant seeds were chewy, which were a welcomed texture. I was worried about how seedy this filling might become and that it might just taste like jam, but instead, the currants were like little explosions of juice and a welcomed treat with every bite.

Currants are available in July (at least here in New York) so if you are planning on making this pie this year, I'm giving this to you a little too late (sorry). But if you are holding on to this recipe for next July, here's a little tip I learned about getting the currants off of the stems without squishing them:

When they are slightly frozen, they are much easier to remove from their stems. Freeze them for about 1/2 hour and once they are solid, gently tug them from the stem (in fact, you can kind of just run your fingers down the stem and pop them off into a bowl rather than pick each one).

Raspberry Currant Pie
1 double pie crust

FILLING:
3 1/2 cups red raspberries
2 1/2 cups red currants, stemmed
1 1/4 cups sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on the top crust
5 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca flakes
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

DIRECTIONS:
Roll out the pastry and line a 9-inch pie tin with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Cut tiny currant-sized circles (vent holes) in the rolled-out top crust with a cake decorating cone tip. Re-chill the pastry if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Sort through the berries and currants to remove any stems and duds. Put them in a bowl and add the sugar, tapioca, and lemon juice. Mix the fruit very gently, scrape it into the bottom crust, and dot the filling with the butter. Lay the top crust over the pie. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer. Sprinkle the crust lightly with sugar

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 10 minutes or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375 F, and bake for at least 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the slits in the top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature. Store the pie uncovered at room temperature up to 3 days.