I'm currently sitting here this morning munching on pie and coffee for 'breakfast'. Not that I'm a breakfast eater (I'm not) but it's 7:00 am and I've been up since 3:00 am so officially it would almost be brunch time for me.
I made the pie yesterday and don't shoot me... but no, I didn't use a 'recipe' - but that's ok! You can still make it. Remember, I always tell my readers that recipes are only for ideas and general directions. I want you to feel comfortable around food to take liberties and have fun. And this might be a good way to do it.
This particular pie is a blueberry, raspberry and marionberry, only because that is the mixture of berries that I bought at Costco last month. They sell a large bag in the frozen food section and although I planned to make jelly or jam out of it, it came in handy yesterday for an impromptu pie. If you want to make this one with just blueberries, or just some other kind of fruit, you can do that.
Fruit Pie
1 unbaked pie crust with another crust for topping it
4-5 c berries, fresh or frozen
3/4 c sugar
1/3 - 1/2 c flour (depending on the kind of fruit you use and whether it's frozen)*or about 3T corn starch
spices - cinnamon, sugar, ginger, lemon juice, etc.
Because I don't really measure I'm going to show you the photo of the ingredients and give you an estimation. Put about 4 - 5 cups of fruit into a bowl. Top with the thickener which can be either corn starch or flour. I used flour here. Because I had raspberries and marionberries and they were frozen, I knew there would be plenty of liquid so I used a heaping 1/3 c of flour - almost 1/2 cup. Add about 3/4 c sugar for most pies although with blueberry and raspberries they have a bit of a bit to them so I would use 1 cup. Add about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix.
Now, at this point you can add other spices although you don't have to. For my blueberry pies I like to add a 1/2 t of cinnamon (about - add more if you love it), a slight sprinkle of ground ginger and just a touch of vanilla exact. See the photo (click on it to make it bigger if you'd like) to see amounts.
Mix well.
Pour into a prepared crust. You want it to be tall and heaping - try to fit all the fruit in it! The fruit will cook down and the pie will be almost flat by the time it is baked and cooled. (See finished photo up top.) Heap it up and top with the second crust. Pinch the edges to seal.I top mine with additional sugar and cinnamon. If you don't want to, you don't have to - but you can add more cinnamon and/or sugar inside the pie instead if you would like.
Place on a cookie sheet (to catch fruit drips or run overs) and bake in a preheated oven - which is also forgiving - I had mine preheated to 425 and then when I place the pie into it I immediately turn it down to about 375. Bake for 1 hour. Cool completely to allow the juices to completely thicken up.
