Easy as Pie!

Some people are good at drawing coughJASONcough ;) Some people are good at baseball, Some people are good at making pies.And some are just excellent at making crusts for said pies. Am I one of those people? Heck no, not YET. But today I did make my first pie using berries and home made pastry. I've made all sorts of other crusts, home made noodles, dumplings, etc but never ventured into the crust making of pies. Well by golly it was time! Plus I had some beautiful berries I got from the Everett Farmer's Market the other day and I really wanted to make something wonderful. And so I did..



I'm not so sure why I've never made my own, it seems really easy, but always scared the crap out of me. Today was just one of those days where I wouldn't have cared if I failed, like how else could it possibly get worse? I found a few recipes that looked good, it sucks most of them you need a food processor. I say, NO WAY! I'll use my hands any day. That rhymed, did you notice?
It turned out surprisingly well. Not bad for a first timer I guess. I do needs lots more practice, so I see many more pies in my future. Lucky you!




Fresh Four Berry Pie

Crust - adapted from The Gutsy Gourmet

2 C flour
1/3 C sugar
1/2 TS baking powder
1/4 TS salt
8 TB unsalted butter, cold
2 large eggs

Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl and stir well to mix. Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and add to dry ingredients. Toss once or twice to coat pieces of butter. Using your hands or a pastry blender, rub the butter into the dry ingredients by breaking it into tiny pieces, continuously pinching and squeezing it into the dry ingredients. Be careful to keep the mixture uniform by occasionally reaching down to the bottom of the bowl and mixing all the ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible. Beat the eggs in a small bowl and pour over the flour and butter mixture. Stir with a fork, continuing to stir until the dough begins to hold together, but still appears somewhat dry. Scatter flour on the work surface and scrape the dough into it. Press and knead the dough quickly 3 or 4 times, until it is smooth.Press the dough into two equal disks. Sandwich the disks of dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and press it into a 6-inch disk. Refrigerate the dough until firm, or until you are ready to use it, at least one hour.



This recipe makes 2 pie crusts, or top and bottom, etc.

Filling
4 C mixed berries - I used raspberry, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries
3/4 C sugar
5 TB flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine and berries, sugar, and flour mix gently to coat. Pour into pie pan. Cover with top crust, cut slits for steam to escape. I used a snail cookie cutter :)

Bake 35 to 40 minutes until browned.

Serve as desired, I had mine warm with a little bit of this!





Yummmmmmy