Mixed Berry Pie

A great way to celebrate the 4th of July is having a BBQ, swimming, and fireworks. I was able to do all of those things this year and it was extremely enjoyable and relaxing :) Another must have for the 4th, is of course, a homemade pie! Last year I actually didn't do a pie, but went with red, white and blue cupcakes. They were good, but this year we needed a pie!

I decided to make a mixed berry--a little nervous, yes, since berries haven't been one of my favorite things ever since Christmas 2009 when I was really sick. Let's just say that there was quite a fiasco in my kitchen with the blackberry pie and I associate the burnt smell with getting sick...no need to go into details ;) But, I was ready to try again! (I mean, I can't just let this pie go into the vault already, it's an award-winning Sonoma County Fair treat!) However I decided to change it up a little--add a little pizazz this time by going with the triple berry--blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. YUM!

I even had a special helper to make this pie! What a treat it was to bake with my sister. I had brought all the stuff over to my parents house and we baked the pie there (another treat was using their super nice oven!) We cranked out this pie the morning of the 4th and were anxiously waiting to slice into it the rest of the day :)

Hope this recipe tempts your taste buds into wanting to try it!

Ingredients:
-6 cups berries, fresh or frozen
-1 cup sugar
-1/4 cup cornstarch
-1/8 tsp. salt
-1/2 cup water
-2 Tbsp. strained fresh lemon juice
-2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
--A 9-in. pie crust (homemade or store bought)

1. Prepare your crust and place in pie dish.
2. Rinse, dry and hull the berries; cut any large ones in half. If using raspberries or frozen berries, don't rinse. Measure 4 cups of berries and set aside.



Puree the remaining 2 cups of berries in a blender or food processor.

3. In medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt. Whisk in water and stir in the pureed berries along with the lemon juice and butter.
4. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, and cook for 1 minute.



5. Pour half of the reserved berries into the crust and spoon half of the hot berry mixture over them. Gently shake the pie pan to coat all the berries evenly. Cover with the remaining berries, spoon the remaining hot berry mixture over them, and gently shake the pan as before.



6. Cover with top crust and make slits with knife (3-4 times in middle of pie, all the way to the bottom).



7. Place pie dish on a baking sheet and bake pie at 375 degrees F for 1 hour, or until you can see the filling bubbling. If the edges are getting to brown, you can lower the temperature of the oven, wrap foil around the edges and continue to bake. (If the filling bubbles over, it's ok! That's what happened to this one, but it still tasted amazing!)
8. Let pie cool for 2 hours. You can leave it out if you prefer room temperature, or place in the refrigerator (my preference!) for a chilled slice. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

**If you need a good crust recipe, leave me a comment and I'd be happy to send one to you :)