Triple Berry Pie. Make this now.

Wow. All I can say is, wow. I tried making a triple berry pie on a whim, not really expecting much from it, and I just might have found my favorite fruit pie. Ever. No mean feat, since it had some stiff competition from blueberry and cherry, not to mention key lime and lemon meringue.  But this pie has an edge, at least for my tastebuds. Not only that, but it is incredibly easy to put together. You can probably use any combination of berries you want, adjusting the sugar content accordingly, but I went with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Ingredients:

• Dough for a 2-crust pie (your favorite recipe or refrigerated)
• 1 pint blueberries
• 12 oz raspberries
• 12 oz blackberries
• 1 C sugar (can adjust up or down depending on your tastebuds and sweetness of berries, but 1 C was perfect for mine)
• 5 tbls cornstarch
• 1 tbls AP flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1-2 tbls lemon juice, depending on how tart you like your pies (I used 1 tbls)
• Butter for dotting filling
• Milk for brushing crust
• Sugar for sprinkling on crust

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Combine berries, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and lemon juice in a bowl
3. Line a pie plate with bottom crust. Spread 1 tbls flour on the bottom of crust, to prevent crust from getting soggy
4. Spoon filling into the crust and dot with butter.
5. Place top crust over filling and seal. I chose to make a lattice crust (look here for a great tutorial), but you can also use a full top crust with vents cut out if you wish. However, as you can see, a lattice crust really shows off the ruby red filling to perfection.  A dual-blade pastry cutter is a nice tool to have for lattice crust-making, it will add lovely little crimps to your dough strips.
6. Brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar
7. Place a protective shield around the crust edge to prevent excess browning
8. Place the pie on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and bake for 15 minutes
9. Lower oven temp to 375 and bake an additional 40-45 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Keep an eye on your crust, different crust recipes might brown at different rates depending on the amount of butter in the dough.
10. Let pie cool on rack. If you cut the pie too soon, it will run. It needs to sit for several hours at a bare minimum to gel. I waited until the next day to cut mine, and the filling was perfect.

This pie was fabulous. It looked spectacular, was possibly the best smelling thing I’ve ever baked, and the filling was divine. The combination of berries gave the pie an incredible complex flavor that was slightly tart, as a fresh fruit pie should be. Alone, or paired with vanilla ice cream, this pie was a huge hit when I brought it to work, and I can’t give it enough accolades. I’m definitely going to the store to purchase some more berries, I want to make this pie several more times this summer!