Huckleberry Pie

Have you ever tried huckleberries? They are a much tinier version of blueberries, usually grown in the wild, upper elevation of mountains. Last summer we hiked up to a location my boss had mentioned he'd seen a jackpot for huckleberry plants. And picking these berries are a true labor of love. They are so small, after an hour and a half, we'd only had about a gallon-size bag worth of berries.  So needless to say, I tend to be a little stingy when using them up in recipes :)

A friend had mentioned she'd had quite a bit of these little huckleberries stocked up in her freezer but had no idea how to make pie crust. I told her I had this incredibly easy recipe that makes 2 double crusts, so she came over and we baked this super delicious pie! Look how tiny those berries are!

Huckleberry Pie

Grandma's Pie Dough from Country Living

Filling from She-smoke

2 disks Grandma's Pie Dough

3 1/2 cups huckleberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoon corn starch
 

Heat the oven to 375°F. Roll out one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness, and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Set aside in the refrigerator. 

Mix the sugar and cornstarch together, then carefully coat the berries with it.  Transfer to the prepared pie pan.

Roll the remaining dough to 1/8-inch thickness and use a scalloped pie cutter to cut dough into strips at desired width.  

Drape the strips over the pie and weave over and under each layer.  Trim the edges of both crusts, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang.  Fold the dough under, lighting pinching to seal.  Crimp around the rim and refrigerate for 10 minutes.  

Bake on the center shelf of the oven until the crust is golden brown - 45 to 55 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Happy Monday! I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! It finally stopped raining and we had some beautiful sunshine.  Saturday morning, I went with a couple girlfriends to the farmer's market and picked up a few bundles of rhubarb. I'd been eyeing a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe in the Farm Chicks book for a while. And coincidently, The Farm Chicks Antique show was this weekend. There were so many adorable things to look it, it was quite overwhelming. My favorite vendor was Spool No. 72. They had the cutest dresses! I can't wait for next year's show! I might try going Sunday when it's less crowded though. 

As for the pie, it was delicious. The perfect balance of sweet and tart.  And I get to knock another thing off my 30 before 30 list :)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

from The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen

2 disks Grandma's Pie Dough

1 1/3 lbs rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 4 1/2 cups)

1/3 pound strawberries, hulled and halved (about 1 cup)

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Heat the oven to 375°F. Roll out one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness, and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Set aside in the refrigerator.  Roll the remaining dough to 1/8-inch thickness and use a miniature star cutter to pierce it, or a sharp knife to cut slits in it. 

Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and flour in a large bowl, and transfer to the prepared pie pan; drape the pierced rolled-out dough over the pie.  Trim the edges of both crusts, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang.  Fold the dough under, lighting pinching to seal.  Crimp around the rim and refrigerate for 10 minutes.  Bake on the center shelf of the oven until the crust is golden brown - 45 to 55 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Nutrition per serving - Protein: 5.2 G; Fat: 21G; Carbohydrate: 52.6 G; Fiber: 2.6 G; Sodium: 121 MG; Cholesterol: 68 MG; Calories: 412.

apple pie

I need to catch up on weekend posts, but first things first, I made this apple pie on Thursday for our Aunt and Uncle who had a very short visit. I used this crust I already had in the freezer, which I loved because the recipe makes 2 double crusts, freezes easily and is really flaky.  I watched this video a while back with tips on how to make the pie dough.  I loved the spices in the pie filling too!

Apple Pie
Recipe from Sugar Plum

2 1/2 lbs. Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon clove
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, for dotting pie

Cream, for brushing
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

1 double crust pie dough, or see Sugar Plum's site for her pie dough recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove until well combined.

Remove pie dough rounds from refrigerator, and allow to warm up a bit before you start rolling. Roll out one of your pie dough rounds, thinly, on a floured surface, and fit into a 9-inch pie plate; pour 1/2 of the apples into pie plate, and dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Cover with remaining apples.
Roll out the second pie dough round and slice it into wide strips, using a pizza cutter. Weave strips into a lattice, covering pie. Trim away the excess dough, and make the crust look all pretty. Brush cream evenly over lattice-top, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake pie for 1 hour and 10-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown, and apples are bubbly. Do NOT underbake - you want the apples tender. If your crust starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil.

Cool pie on a wire rack, to room temperature (or still a little warm!), before slicing.

Yield: 8-10 slices