Recipe: Frozen Mixed Berry Pie

Image found here

My mom had tons of frozen blueberries, and we had froze some of the blackberries we picked recently, so I thought I'd bake a berry pie. I have only done this once before (read that blog post here), so I thought I'd give it another try. I found this recipe on the Dessert Now, Dinner Later blog.

Ingredients

·    Pie Dough - for bottom and top crusts

·    4 cups frozen berry blend (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)

·    3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar (depending on desired sweetness)

·    1/3 cup cornstarch

·    egg wash (1 egg whisked, for brushing the crust)

·    extra sugar (granulated or coarse sugar for sprinkling on top)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

2. Prepare pie crust. Divide dough in half. Roll one half into a circle and fill a standard 9-inch pie plate. Cut off edges and discard.

3. Measure berries into a large bowl, being as level as possible. Toss with sugar and cornstarch. [NOTE: Too many berries will create extra liquid that may spill over while baking, and may result in a loose, rather than thickened, filling.] 

4. Empty berries into the prepared pie crust, distributing the cornstarch-sugar mixture as evenly as possible. (Optional: Let berries macerate for 5-10 minutes to release some juices and dissolve some of the cornstarch-sugar mixture.)

5. Roll the other half of the pie dough out. Cut strips for a lattice top or leave whole. Brush egg wash on the edges of the pie crust and attach the top crust to the bottom crust. Cut off any excess dough and crimp edges, if desired. Cut slits into the center of the crust if it's whole, not latticed. 

6.  Brush the top of the pie crust with egg wash and sprinkle with extra sugar.

7. Bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 1 hr 15 min or until the crust on top is nice and golden brown and the filling is bubbling in the center. Cover with foil if crust browns before filling bubbles. (TIP: Place a tray covered in foil on the rack underneath the pie to catch any possible spills.)

I kind of love how this recipe doesn't straight-up start with making your own crust. She knows more than half of us reading it are using the Pillsbury pie crusts anyway! The crusts had been frozen and I let them defrost, maybe even a little too much. But I didn't end up even needing the full second one, since I just cut some strips from it for the lattice top.

I had read in another recipe to let the berries thaw for 20 minutes first; while they are thawing, mix the dry ingredients together, and then pour that mixture on top of the berries. So I did that, but there was SO much corn starch! But it clearly wasn't enough actually, because my pie was rather wet (clearly I hadn't read the blog post from my first berry pie, otherwise I would have remembered to actually DOUBLE the amount of corn starch). So while it might look like a lot, berries are mostly water, so you need a lot of corn starch to help solidify the pie filling.

But even with the runny filling, this pie was very good! How can you go wrong with fruit and sugar?