Patriotic Blueberry Strawberry Pie

Happy July 4th!

Yesterday was about apple pie. Today is about blueberry and strawberry pie. Topped with a star crust for a little extra American flair instead of a boring old lattice pattern.

I couldn't decide whether to make a blueberry or a strawberry pie, so in the end I decided to just the combine the two. Good choice. This is my first attempt at making a fruit pie on a whim with no real recipe.

So here's what I did.

First, I made my own pie crust using this vodka pie crust recipe. Vodka might sound like a crazy ingredient, but it creates a real flaky pie crust.

Next, I preheated the oven to 400°.

Then I made the filling by combining half a pint of blueberries and half a pint of chopped strawberries with 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest, and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. I mashed the fruit up and let the syrup simmer for about 10 minutes, adding a tablespoon of cornstarch and two tablespoons of flour to thicken the mixture based on what I read on how to thicken fruit pies.

I combined another half pint of uncooked blueberries and another half pint of uncooked chopped strawberries with a a grated Granny Smith apple (thickens the mixture and you can't even taste it), the juice of a lemon, another 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest, 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and a pinch of salt.

I took the hot mixture off of the stove and rolled and prepared half the pie crust recipe in a glass pie pan. Then I put the pie pan in the refrigerator, so it didn't get too soft. I took the other half of the pie crust recipe and used a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out stars to become the top of my pie crust.

Once the hot berry mixture had cooled, I added to the uncooked berry mixture and mixed throughly.

I removed the pie crust from the fridge, took an egg yolk, stirred along with a tablespoon of water to brush on the crust for crispiness. I poured the berry mixture into the pie crust, spread it out, placed approximately 2-3 tablespoons of sliced butter on top of the filling followed by the dough stars. I intended to add a few pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon to the filling top before I added the stars, but I was so excited about the stars that I completely forgot to. In the end I sprinkled it on top the stars, but I would add it to the filling if making again, because it made the stars not look quite as pretty. I followed this with some more egg wash on top of the stars and placed in the oven for 20 minutes until the pie crusts just started to brown.

Finally I covered the pie with some aluminum foil and reduced the temperature of the oven so that the pie crust wouldn't burn and let it bake for another 35 minutes, while a delicious aroma filled the apartment.

In the end, I was really happy with how this pie turned out. The stars in the middle got a little soggy right out of the oven, but in the end the pie tasted absolutely spectacular. Our friends (beta testers) raved about it, and we can't wait to bring it (plus peach cobbler) to our 4th of July party tonight.