If I had to pick one of my favorite recipes that I have made this summer, it would definitely be this pie. The first time I made this recipe was when my husband and I were invited to a BBQ at a friend’s home. I offered to bring a dessert and immediately starting thinking about what I could bring. I was flipping through pages of my cookbooks at my home one Saturday morning and as soon as I saw this pie recipe I knew it would be perfect.
I love how simple the recipe is and how you can change what fruit you have. I bought the fresh fruit from our local farmer’s market and used a mix of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries but this recipe can easily be customized. I would love to make it with cherries and peaches one day.
To make the crust I used my go-to recipe for an all-butter pie crust. It’s easy to make and is a delicious pie crust for this recipe. It pairs really nicely with the fruits.
This recipe is unique in that you only bake half of the fruit in the oven with the crust, and then add the rest of the fresh fruit on top. The cooked fruit on the bottom helps to hold the piecrust in place so you have no issues with the crust “bubbling up” which can sometimes happen when there isn’t anything weighing down the crust as it bakes. The fresh fruit on top of the pie sinks slightly into the baked fruit and sets nicely to create a visually appealing (and delicious) topping.
Of course I saved a little extra pie dough and put my Michigan cookie-cutter to good use. I also added some sparking sugar on top. I buy mine from King Arthur Flour and it’s perfect to top off baked goods.
We enjoyed our pie with a scoop of local Michigan ice-cream in front of a campfire in our friends’ backyard. A summer dessert for the win!
Summer Berry Pie
Pie Recipe from Scratch: Home Cooking for Everyone Made Simple, Fun and Totally Delicious by Maria Rodale; All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe from NY Times Cooking
Ingredients
- ALL BUTTER PIE CRUST
- All Purpose Flour - 1 & 1/4 cups
- Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
- Unsalted Butter - 10 tablespoons, cold & cut into cubes
- Ice Water - 4-6 tablespoons, as needed
- PIE FILLING
- Fresh Chopped Fruit - 4-6 cups
- Granulated Sugar - 1/2 cup
- Lemon Juice - 1 tablespoon
- Tapioca Starch (or flour) - 1 tablespoon
- Unsalted Butter - 4 tablespoons
- Salt - just a pinch
Instructions
All Butter Pie Crust:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the unsalted butter and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Slowly add the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, and mix until the dough comes together. Use only enough water so that the dough is moist but not completely wet.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it forms a ball. Flatten into a disk and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Alternatively, you can also roll out the dough at this point and transfer it to a pie plate and & refrigerate.
Pie Filling & Assembly:
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Place the chopped mixed fruit in a bowl. Sprinkle the sugar and lemon juice on top and mix with a spoon.
- Divide the fruit mixture in half and set aside.
- Add the tapioca starch (or flour) to the half of the fruit that’s to-be-cooked—and stir.
- Put the to-be-cooked fruit mixture into the pie shell. Top with the unsalted butter and add a pinch of salt.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is bubbly and golden.
- When the pie has cooled, top with the rest of the fresh fruit.
- I highly recommend serving this pie with ice cream - it's a delicious combo!
