Tag Archives: raspberry

A Few More Slices

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

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Minnesota, in addition to being the land of lakes, is also the land of pie. No one here is shy about their love of pie. It is not frowned upon to eat pie (and ice cream) after dinner every night. It is my kind of place.

In the town of Marine on St. Croix, there is an ice cream shop, a bar, a pizza place, a lovely little coffee shop which is currently providing me with Wi-Fi…but no pie store. HMMMMMM. I sense a summer business opportunity.

I made a second pie last week, in addition to the All-Rhubarb…a pie that does not “count” in an official sense on this blog. It was an All-Strawberry Pie, and two years ago I was baking a few of them with no measuring spoons and a beer bottle for a rolling pin at my friends Sara, Maggie, and Emily’s cottage. We were celebrating Emily’s upcoming wedding and my 22nd birthday and Levi’s 23rd birthday and our first wedding anniversary and learning how to dance on the rooftop of the boathouse.

This time, we picked the strawberries (small, almost wild-looking) from a nearby organic farm. Strawberry season is almost over in Minnesota now, and my cousin Matt and my Aunt Sarah and I spent about half an hour searching for the last berries. It was worth it.

The recipe calls for a top crust. This time I used a crumb topping. I learned for the second time that strawberry pies BOIL OVER LIKE CRAZY. Be prepared–use a cookie sheet underneath. In most fruit pies I put at least 5 cups of fruit, but this one only calls for 4. And it’s still a total mess. Yet, delicious.

I have to include a picture of one of my Grandmother’s pies, so I present to you a Marie Sweeny Raspberry Pie. I learned on this trip that there is one very small difference between Grandmother’s crust and Ken’s Basic Flaky crust. But I’m not sure if I’m ready to divulge secrets like that for the world to read. All you need to know is that Marie Sweeny makes a top-notch pie.

 

One of Those Times

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie

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I just love fruit pies. Have I mentioned that before? Love, love, love ’em. Especially mixed fruit pies, like this Pear-Raspberry Lattice-Top Pie.

If you’ve never made a lattice-top pie before, don’t worry. It’s super duper easy. Here’s one good trick from Ken to get you started right…shape the pastry which will become the top crust into a square (as opposed to a disk) before rolling!

I like to roll my pie crust between two pieces of wax paper–it just makes the process so much easier. For extra ease, I also refrigerate the pastry before rolling it out. This isn’t as necessary for oil-based crusts, but it’s an important step if you use a solid fat like butter and/or shortening.

Another lattice trick: use a pizza cutter to cut strips of crust! (I made eight strips and followed the clever diagram given in Pie, which makes the actual assembly of the lattice a cinch.)

The color of this pie is gorgeous. It doesn’t smell too shabby coming out of the oven, either.

I was happy to be able to share this pie with several good friends of ours. As we were eating our first slices, Levi asked if this might not be “One of those times” where it would be appropriate to just cut the rest of the pie up and finish it right then and there. Indeed, it did turn out to be the thing to do.

Along with mixed fruit pies, I love eating outside in the summer, twinkle lights, glasses of wine, and good company.

Memorial Day Memories

09 Saturday Jun 2012

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**Blackberry Sour Cream Pie, made with blackberries and raspberries.

 

The hardest step of the recipe (as usual) was allowing time for the pie to cool before eating. 

Credit to Jen and Chris Wubbels for creating the epic menu, having all of us over at their home, and cooking most of the food. Maggie, your Strawberry Rosewater Cobbler was wonderful. Look for a rosewater pie…very soon.

American Pie

01 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Freeform Pie

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Summer is upon us. In California, the only real difference is that you can go to the beach and sit on the sand and not actually freeze to death (though you’ll still do that if you attempt to venture into the water). The sun is a little sunnier, people are a little happier, and the end of the school year is in sight, meaning that there will be more time to bake lots and lots of pies.

If pie is the ultimate American dessert, than a berry pie is the ultimate American summer dessert. One weekend in May, Levi and I decided to preemptively celebrate the coming summer by having an Americana-steeped weekend. We spent time at the Simi Valley street fair, purchased and consumed some summery brews, grilled hamburgers on our barbeque. To go along with the theme, Levi decided that it would be a good idea to listen to country music on Pandora. (I’m still trying to figure out what possessed him.) And of course, I made a berry pie.

Patsy’s Mixed Berry Freeform Pie is unique for several reasons.

  1. The crust contains several unusual ingredients such as cottage cheese, a good amount of sugar, and baking powder. The texture of the finished pastry is fluffier and stickier than your average crust, and the baked end result is rather cakey and delicious.
  2. It has a gooey cream cheesy layer underneath the berries. What a nice surprise!
  3. It’s freeform (as you might have already ascertained by its name). If you don’t know what a freeform pie is, you’re in luck—I just so happen to have some pictures to show you!
To make a freeform pie, you don’t need a pie pan. Just a foil-lined baking sheet will do. This pastry dough is sticky to the point of annoying, so the foil is a necessary step. The rolled out crust goes on the baking sheet, and then a sweet cream cheese mixture is spread over the center in a circle. Like so.

A very hopeful Bear.

Then the berries get dumped in the middle. I used blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries…the more the berrier! Har har har.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the fun part…rolling up the edges. You just fold in one section at a time and the dough forms pleats. I used a spatula for a little extra help.

Bake until the crust is golden brown, top with vanilla ice cream OF COURSE, and share with friends.

Andrew and Marjorie are cute pie models.

Happy almost-summer, all.

Summers, Falls, Winters, and Springs

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

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I really miss seasons.

I know there are some who would argue, “But California does have seasons…they’re just different!” And they’d be right, technically. But, I must say that the vague, mild “springtime” of southern California is no substitute for the full resurrection glory that East Coasters experience yearly.

My parents are moving to Georgia. This is big news, as I’ve never known them to live in a house other than the one I grew up in. I’m sure most kids are somewhat attached to their houses, but I think I surpassed most. When I was about eight, I took a pencil and drew a square on the wall in my closet and pretended that it was a portal into a secret planet of my own creation. (The continent had several countries, including Girl Land, Starland, and Heartland….Heartland was the most important one, FYI.) Every time I heard rumors that we might move, I would write anxiously about the repercussions of this dreaded idea in my journal…journals…(I went through them pretty quickly.) The gist was that if we moved, some other inferior child would figure out how to enter my secret world!! Oh the indignity.

So now my parents really are moving, it looks like, and this may have been my last visit to the old house. Even though I’ve lived many other places (at least five) since moving out six years ago, it will still be a little bittersweet to hear that this house has been sold. I hope some other little girl can find magic there.

My mom and I made a pie with the last of the frozen raspberries from their harvest last summer. We didn’t need a recipe. We used an olive oil based crust, some honey, nutmeg, sugar, flour, and lemon juice.

Thanks, Mom, for all of the other long-since-eaten pies that have been made on this same little round table!

“hadn’t given it much thought

hadn’t been back here for a while

everything looks so small

seen through the memories of a child

who would dream and stare

from that second story window

that was my whole world,

it was all I knew

like the hull of a seed this old house cracked wide open

and I flew”

~Sara Groves, This House