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I have achieved pie!
I made my first fruit pie today from blackberries I picked last night and peaches M'lyn brought me from Yakima this weekend. I make a mean punkin pie, but I've never made a fruit one, for some reason. It turned out quite well, although I think it needed a skosh more cornstarch, since it was very very wet. But I love the super tartness of the blackberries with the peaches and the little bit of nutmeg on top brings a nice roundness.
I made the top crust out of little stars I cut with a cookie cutter. I saw it in a picture and though my friend Michael discouraged me from going fancy on my first berry pie, I had time waiting for the oven to heat. I think they needed an egg wash to maintain their shape a little better; I'll try that next time.
Overall, not bad. So far, in my very limited summer, I've made cardamom ice cream, fig ice cream, and now a blackberry-peach pie. I will get some more blackberries maybe this weekend and make blackberry ice cream next. Doesn't look like I'm going to get any persimmons on my tree yet again, so I'm not sure if I'll make the persimmon-black pepper syrup ice cream again, though I really liked that one.
Behold, pie!

I made the top crust out of little stars I cut with a cookie cutter. I saw it in a picture and though my friend Michael discouraged me from going fancy on my first berry pie, I had time waiting for the oven to heat. I think they needed an egg wash to maintain their shape a little better; I'll try that next time.
Overall, not bad. So far, in my very limited summer, I've made cardamom ice cream, fig ice cream, and now a blackberry-peach pie. I will get some more blackberries maybe this weekend and make blackberry ice cream next. Doesn't look like I'm going to get any persimmons on my tree yet again, so I'm not sure if I'll make the persimmon-black pepper syrup ice cream again, though I really liked that one.
Behold, pie!
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For top-crust non-breaky-ness, I don't know if you allow any vegetable shortening in the crust mixture, but a little bit of it can increase strength and flexibility enough to decrease breaking. (I am usually a 1.5 sticks butter, 2-3 T crisco type myself.) Egg wash will make the stars shinier, and more impervious to moisture -- maybe egg-wash the undersides! -- but I've not heard that it actually strengthens dough.
I have a constitutional disinclination to pre-cooking the filling of berry pies (I usually do blueberry, although I have some cherries in the freezer I should use up), but without pre-cooking I often end up with a way wetter pie than I am expecting. Except one time when I doubled the amount of cornstarch in a fit of pique, and ended up with a blueberry Jello pie. Very disconcerting mouthfeel, although it tasted fine.
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mmmmm, pie!
if you have a little time (and fruit), it's good to prepare fruit fillings & freeze them, so you can enjoy lovely fresh pies in the winter! just line a pie tin with foil, fill and freeze. once frozen, wrap well & keep until it's time for pie. at that point, just make your crust, place frozen filling in it and top - then let it thaw slightly before backing as usual
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Your pic made me think of this recipe that was in my newspaper the other day. Blackberries. Yum.