In honor of Trisha Yearwood’s fall introduction of her Berry Patch Collection (debuting online Oct 2nd!), I went searching for berry inspired recipes. Let me tell you, berries are the bomb! There are a plethora of berry tarts, berry muffins, berry cobblers, berry custards, pies, strudels…how was I to choose? Well, in the end, I chose three recipes to try, and I will be bringing them to you over the next three weeks.
I know that I’m not supposed to play favorites, but we will start with the hero of this baking adventure, the strawberry rhubarb pie. Don’t be offended when I say that this is one of those desserts that I have always associated with my grandmother, but not in that sweet grandaughterly way. No, I associated it with “grandma’s house,” as in old fashioned and overdone. Honestly, I had never even tried one…I mean, what is rhubarb anyway? Obviously my culinary upbringing was lacking. (For the rest of you culinary shut-ins, rhubarb looks like red celery.)
And so my adventure began by walking out to the strawberry patch and picking a basket of fresh strawberries…no wait. My strawberry patch only produced about twelve stunted strawberries earlier in the summer, so I admit, I went to the grocery store.
It turns out that strawberry rhubarb pie is a perfect combination of sweet and tart. And while, yes, my grandma did love it, I no longer associate it with grandmothers. I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe from SmittenKitchen.com as much as we did.
Ingredients: Filling
1 recipe All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough or double-crust pie dough of your choice
3 1/2 cups (about 1 1/2 pounds, untrimmed) rhubarb, in 1/2-inch thick slices
3 1/2 cups (about 1 pound) strawberries, hulled and sliced if big, halved if tiny
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Roll your pie dough on a well floured counter to a 12-inch circle. Transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate, and try not to destroy it like I always do! I heard that if you gently fold it into quarters, you can transfer it more easily and then unfold it to cover the pie plate. Allow the excess to hang over the edge of the plate.
- Stir together rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon, salt and tapioca in a large mixing bowl.
- Spoon your pie filling into the bottom pie crust and scatter your butter bits on top.
- Roll out the top pie crust into an 11-inch circle, cut slits and cover the top of your pie. Trim the excess crust – top and bottom – so the they hang over the edge about half an inch. Tuck the extra dough over and crimp it to give it a pretty edge.
- Transfer pie to a baking sheet and brush egg yolk mixture over dough. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, until the pie is golden and the juices bubble visibly.
Let it cool several hours to allow time for the filling to thicken. Then, dig in. Oh, and don’t forget to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!
Ingredients: All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough
Makes enough dough for one double, or two single-crust pies.
2 1/2 cups (315 grams) flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
2 sticks (8 ounces, 225 grams tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup very cold water
- Fill up a cup of water and add ice (yes, I meant it when I said very cold water), and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt.
- Cut the cold butter into 1/2-inch pieces.
- Add butter pieces to the flour mixture and begin cutting the butter into the mixture using your pastry blender (or a fork if you are baking tool deficient).
- When the mixture looks crumbly, start adding your water a little at a time. Begin by pouring half a cup of the ice-cold water (but no ice) over the flour and butter mixture. Using a rubber spatula, begin to gather the dough together.
- Add additional water one tablespoon at a time until the dough is holding together in clumps. Knead the dough gently into one piece, then split in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one or two hours.
