Peaches and Cream Pie

Peaches, peaches, peaches.  I love them...the way they taste, the way they smell, the fact that they are perfect, perfect symbol of summer.  

However.  They are NOT the easiest fruit in the world to work with when you are baking with them.  You have to boil them for a few minutes in order to peel them, and then you have to deal with getting the dang peach pit out of the center.  All the peaches I have ever met hang on to that pit for dear life, and so I usually end up spending a lot of quality time with my paring knife and peach juice running down my arm.  So if I am going to go through all that (and who knows, maybe it is just me and the rest of the world only runs into well-behaved peaches), then whatever I am making better be worth it.

Ladies and gentlemen, please meet Peaches and Cream Pie, otherwise known as Worth It.

One of my other issues is usually with peach pies...actually with most fruit pies...and that is that while they are usually scrumptious, they are also, well, super-messy.  All that lovely juice quadruples in volume in the oven, and when you cut into your gorgeous pie it kind of collapses on you into a delicious but soupy puddle of fruit and crust.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just once I wanted to make a well-behaved pie.  And here it is...and here's the secret.

You still have to wrangle with the peaches - the peeling, the pitting, etc - but once you have your peaches peeled and pitted and cut in half, you lay them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and sprinkle them with some sugar, and then you bake them until they have caramelized and released some of that juice I was talking about.  (And as an extra added bonus, you can also pre-bake your pie shell in the very same oven.  Better and better!).

Then you slice up the caramelized peaches, drop them in your conveniently pre-baked pie-shell, and cover the whole thing with a custard mixture of eggs and cream and bake it until it is golden and wonderful and perfect.  You can tell when people start wandering into the kitchen and lurking around near the oven.  You then have to break the news that not only does it have to cool for about three hours, but you were actually planning to serve it AFTER dinner and not before.

Of course, you could make an exception, just this once.

Peaches and Cream Pie, from Cooks Country

• One 9 inch unbaked pie shell
• 2 pounds ripe peaches, peeled, halved and pitted
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cover pie shell with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes, then freeze for 20 minutes.  Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat to 375.  Line chilled pie shell with foil and top with pie weights.

2. Place peach halves cut side up on foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.  Bake on the upper middle rack until softened and juice starts to release, about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through baking.  Now add pie crust to oven on the lower middle rack and bake for 15 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and weights and bake crust and peaches for 5 minutes more.  Remove and cool both crust and peaches for 15 minutes.

3. Reduce oven to 325.  Cut peaches length-wise in quarters and arrange in a single layer over crust.  Combine remaining sugar, flour and salt in bowl.  Whisk in cream, egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and pour the mixture over the peaches.  Bake until filling is light golden and set, about 45-55 minutes.  Cool for three hours before serving.

Print this!

Baby Chocolate Coconut Cream Pies

Lately I seem to be all into the little individual servings of things. Macaroni and cheese cupcakes. French toast muffins. Banana bites. So when I spied this recipe for little individual chocolate coconut cream pies on the always fabulous Baking Bites website it made my heart go pitter-pat. Yes, a chocolate coconut cream pie where you can have the entire thing YOURSELF and not feel the slightest bit guilty.

Now, I am very sure that there is some recipe out there in the world somewhere that calls for making your own homemade graham cracker individual perfect crusts, but this is one of those cases where I invoked the chicken fried steak rule (and for you newer readers who have NO idea what I am talking about, click HERE). Anyway, this particular recipe called for using individual pre-made graham cracker crusts, and I thought there was no way on earth my supermarket was going to have them. But lo and behold! there they were right there in the baking aisle.

Now, one word about these little crusts. They come in foil pans, which was rubbing me the wrong way in terms of the whole look of my little pies. I tried taking one out of the foil pan before I started and it broke into a million delicious, unusable pieces. BUT...after the crusts were filled and chilled down in the fridge, they popped out very easily -- I pushed up just a little on the bottom to ease it out. And then I felt like all was right with the world.

So the next time you are hankering for something a little bit chocolate and a little bit coconut, these are for you!

Baby Chocolate Coconut Cream Pies, from Baking Bites

• 5-oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and divided
• 12 miniature graham cracker pie crusts
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half & half/light cream
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (regular or light)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped sweetened flaked coconut
• lightly sweetened whipped cream

1. Brush individual graham cracker crusts with melted chocolate, using about 1.5-oz. Place in the refrigerator to harden.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Whisk in eggs, half & half and coconut milk until very smooth. Strain mixture into a medium saucepan.

3. Heat mixture over medium heat, whisking frequently, until custard begins to come to a simmer. Add in remaining 3.5-oz bittersweet chocolate and stir until chocolate is fully incorporated and mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in finely chopped coconut and vanilla extract.

4. Pour into chocolate-lined pie shells and refrigerate until chilled – about 3 hours, or overnight.

5. Top with sweetened whipped cream and garnish with a little more coconut.

Click here for printable recipe

Whoopie Pies

Now, this probably falls into the "dare to be obvious" category of comments (or as the teenager would say, DUH!!) but I don't tend to make a lot of things out of prepared mixes. However, every once in a while I run across something that is both perfectly wonderful AND is a prepared mix, and as far as I am concerned, that is perfectly, wonderfully okay. Manischewitz matzoh ball soup mix, for example. Ghiradelli brownie mix, for example. King Arthur dog biscuits, for example. So I try to keep an open mind about these things, which was a good thing when it came to these whoopie pies.

For those of you who haven't experienced the wonder of a whoopie pie, it is basically two circles of the softest chocolate cake imaginable, held together oh so perfectly by a fluffy vanilla cream filling. That's it, and that is all you need. The very small amount of research I have done tells me that these originated in either New England or Pennsylvania Amish country, and they got their name because when folks found them in their lunch buckets they would shout "Whoopie!!" Sounds reasonable to me.

Anyway, somewhere along the line someone gave me a a package of this whoopie pie mix from the marvelous Stonewall Kitchen, which you have heard me rhapsodize about before in terms of their amazing jam. So I decided to give it a try this weekend, and by the time it was over...

WHOOPIE!!!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. But seriously, these were easy and quick and taste just wonderful. So if you are ever in the mood for something chocolate and a little different....whoopie pies. You won't be sorry.

Stonewall Kitchen Whoopie Pie Mix

Triple Threat Cake

Where to start, where to start? Okay, first of all, this week was the teenager's 17th birthday. Which means she can now drive. Which means the keys to our little white pick-up truck used to look like this:



and now they look like this:



So this called for not your ordinary birthday cake for herself and the horde of hungry teenagers that were coming over to help celebrate her new ability to say "Mom, can I borrow the car?" Luckily it was also MY birthday last week, and my awesome friends showered me with treats they knew I would make great use of in the kitchen. For example, that gorgeous pink glass cake stand in the first picture on top is from my friends B&B. I love love love it. My friend S gave me not one but TWO of these gorgeous aprons from one of my favorite, favorite stores, Anthrolopogie...

So that went on right away, because Triple Threat Cake is full of opportunities to spill stuff on oneself. Then I got out this gorgeous pie plate from my guest-blogging, expert pie-making friend E -- isn't it just beautiful?

And with that I was all set to tackle this dessert. Now credit where credit is due: I found this recipe on CakeSpy, which is an awesome site for anything remotely related to cake. I bookmarked it ages ago waiting for the right event, because this is not something you can make for your casual weekday dessert. You'll see why in a minute. First, line your own beautiful deep dish pie plate with pie crust.

Now full disclosure, I did not make many of the components of this recipe from scratch, because if I HAD, I would still be in the kitchen making it. So that is a Pillsbury pie crust you see there, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I DID then make a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch (follow the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip package and you can't go wrong), and I pressed about half the cookie dough into the bottom of the pie crust, like so:

Pop the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge for use at another time. Next, mix up a batch of packaged cake mix. I went for broke and used Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix. Pour it on top of the cookie dough until your pie plate is almost full. You'll have leftover batter, which I made into little mini cupcakes. This recipe is the gift that keeps on giving.

The whole thing gets popped into a preheated 350 degree oven. Here's my oven, which I am showing you so that you can see ANOTHER of my awesome holiday gifts, this one from my friend K, who knows how much I truly do love my dog.

I mean, look at her. Look at the crossed paws. Look how patiently she is waiting by the oven, just in case it suddenly pops open and some bacon falls out on to the floor. Hey, it could happen.

So, about 50 minutes later, you will have a something that looks like this. The crust, the cookie dough and the cake mix will all have baked into this golden wonderment of sugar.

Let it cool until it is really totally cool, and then frost with the frosting of your choice. And since you have come this far, go to town with the sprinkles. When all is said and done, here's what it looks like.

Triple threat cake...just perfect for a million or so hungry teenagers! And what a great way to try out some of those great gifts from my peeps. And I haven't even GOTTEN to all of them...wait until you see my gorgeous olive oil carafe from my Italian friend, my La Crueset single serving crocks from my amazing assistant, and the adorable cookie cutters from my Friend/Photography Zen Master B....and my mom and dad actually gave me BACON. Yes they did. Don't you just love birthdays???

TRIPLE THREAT CAKE, adapted from CakeSpy

• One unbaked piecrust
• One batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough
• One batch of your favorite prepared cake mix
• One batch of your favorite prepared frosting
• Sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray deep dish pie plate with cooking spray.

2. Lay unbaked pie crust in pie plate.

3. Press enough cookie dough into bottom of pie crust to fully cover bottom but not sides. It should be about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. You will have leftover cookie dough (hurray!)

4. Prepare cake mix according to box directions and pour over cookie dough until pie plate is almost full. You will have leftover cake mix (make cupcakes!)

5. Bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

6. Cool completely and frost the top. Add sprinkles, candles, sparklers and/or whatever else the occasion calls for.

Click here for printable recipe

Pecan Pie Winners!

Thank you to every one of you Gaiman-loving, pie-loving, movie-loving folks who entered the Pecan Bestseller Pie giveaway that I posted a few days ago. Before I get to the winners, I wanted to send out one more big THANK YOU to my guest blogger Elise Howard -- editor and pie-baker extraodinaire. And another giant thank you to one of the most amazing writers I know, the incredibly talented Neil Gaiman. If you haven't yet read THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, you need to go get your hands on a copy right this minute. It's simply spectacular.

Okay, on to the lucky winners, who were selected by www.random.org, because if I had to pick them out myself I just...couldn't...do it. The winner of the obviously way too easy question about what movie the line "Pecan Piiiiiiiie" came from is Photogramommy, who (along with everyone else) knew that it came from WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. (And a special thanks to all of you who also reminded me of the paprikash line. I just LOVE that dang movie.) Photogramommy, you win a copy of the very fun book AMERICAN PIE. Email me here to send me your mailing info.

And now for the three incredibly lucky winners of THIS incredible book:

First, Nutmeg Nanny, whose favorite pie is key lime pie. My Southern husband adores that one too, as do a LOT of the commenters on this post. So Nutmeg Nanny, you are winner #1, and I will email you through your own very lovely blog to get your address.

Winner # 2 is Seeks, who loves a good shoofly pie, and even included a link so that we would know what shoofly pie actually IS. Seeks, please email me here to tell me where to send your copy of the book.

And winner #3 is Mike, who couldn't decide between chocolate peanut butter pie and pumpkin. Mike, I totally understand your dilemma. While you are figuring it out, email me here with your address.

In the meantime, here's how all the many fabulous pie nominations broke out..

Who knew that there were so many strawberry rhubarb fans out there?

And last but not least, I have one surprise extra copy of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK to send to Alexis, who was kind enough to include an actual recipe in her comments, so that this post will not be recipe-less. Thanks for the Key Lime Pie recipe, Alexis, and please email me here with your address as well.

Alexis's Favorite Key Lime Pie recipe (from a postcard she got in Florida)

• 4 tsp key lime zest
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 - 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted.

Beat together in order until well blended, then pour into into a prepared pie crust. (i use a regular baked pie crust, you could use graham crackers) Bake at 325 for 15 min (until set), remove, cool & chill. I prefer to serve with a dollop of whipped cream, but if you like meringue, use the egg whites left over from the 5 egg whites above.

Guest Blogger Elise Howard: Pecan Bestseller Pie

Photo by Leo Chapman


"Pecan piiiiiiiie."

Everyone leaving a comment telling me the movie that line is from is automatically entered in a random drawing to win a copy of the cookbook AMERICAN PIE. I have one delicious copy to give away -- and another fun giveaway at the bottom of this post.

Anyway, I love pecan pie and would have gotten around to blogging about it sooner or later, but as it turns out, my friend Elise is an awesome pecan-pie-baker, and not only that, has a better pecan pie story to tell than I will EVER have. So I knelt at her feet and asked her to be Framed's very first guest blogger. Therefore without further ado, I give you Elise Howard and her Pecan Bestseller Pie....

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Just over a year ago, HarperCollins published The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, which I had the privilege of editing. It immediately went to #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Neil told us here at Harper that if we could keep the book at #1 for a month, there would be cupcakes.

We did, and he did, and they were divine – oversized delights with chocolate frosting, each emblazoned with “#1.” Then Neil set us a challenge: keep the book on the Times list till the end of the calendar year – more cupcakes. Sure enough, they appeared as promised. Late January brought news of a Newbery Medal win for The Graveyard Book, a return to the #1 slot, and still more cupcakes. I think. At this point, frankly, we were operating on a perpetual blissed-out cupcake high, and the exact course of events has become a bit of a blur. The next pivotal event I remember clearly, however. The Graveyard Book became a fixture on the Times list, and Neil set the challenge: keep the book there for a year, and we would be eating even more cupcakes. “If we stay on the list for a year,” I told Neil, “I will bake you a pie.”

When week 52 finally arrived, our hearts were in our throats. But since this is a guest post on a cooking blog, you will already have guessed that we made it.

That day, Neil wrote this on his blog: “I am sure there are many people who edit books and also casually produce pies. Elise, for all I know, may be one of these people. I do not believe she is. I liked to think that she was someone who, if The Graveyard Book stayed on the NYT Bestseller List for a year, would need to brush up on her pie-making skills, to navigate the unfamiliar twin territories of piecrust and filling. It would be an adventure.”

It suited me just fine that Neil did not know that I am, in fact, a proud if junior member of a Kentucky-based baking dynasty, that I have explored in depth the tough questions: Shortening, butter, or lard? Pastry blender, twin knives, food processor, or no utensil at all? Ceramic, glass or metal?

After toying with the idea of seasonal rhubarb and realizing it would be nearly impossible to ship, I baked the pecan pie Sunday, froze it hard, and sent it overnight on Monday in a beautiful shipping box constructed by my sweet spouse; it arrived in the Midwest by 11 the next morning, nicely thawed and ready to slice.

Here’s what it looked like as Neil posted it on his journal at neilgaiman.com:

Photo by Neil Gaiman

Was it a success? Let’s just say that if my editorial letters were greeted with half as much enthusiasm by my dear authors, I’d have the happiest job in publishing. Neil tweeted it, blogged it, and sent several e-mails with pictures attached of the pie in various stages of consumption.

And today I received news of a lovely coda to this story: Inspired or frustrated by all Neil’s talk of cupcakes and pie, the folks at needcoffee.com announced a Graveyard Book Dessert Challenge. Their results are humbling and inspiring – and they look delicious.

Meantime, here’s the recipe for my Pecan Bestseller Pie, if you’d like to try it yourself.

PECAN BESTSELLER PIE

Crust:

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (less if you are using kosher or sea salt)
½ cup very cold shortening
¼ scant cup cold butter
¼ cup ice-cold water

1. Combine flour and salt in a food processor with a couple of quick pulses. Handling it as little as possible, add the shortening in about eight large chunks. Pulse rapidly 5 or 6 times till the mixture appears to be fine crumbs. Add the butter, cut into several pieces, again handling as little as possible. Pulse another 5 or 6 times until the coated particles of fat are varied in size, with the largest about the size of an almond. Begin adding water in a trickle, just a couple of tablespoons at first. Pulse 2 or 3 times. If the mixture is still quite dry, add a little more water. Pulse 2 or 3 more times. When the dough begins to form a ball, stop right away.

2. Handling the dough as little as possible, using just your fingertips, shape it into a ball and flatten it on your countertop or whatever well-floured surface you will use to roll it. I like to use a cold (notice the theme?) marble pin, rolling the dough quickly and lightly with as few strokes as possible, working from the center out to the edges until the crust is about 1/8-inch thick and 13 inches in diameter for a 9-inch pie pan. (I prefer metal.) What’s up with all the cold ingredients and utensils? It keeps the fat, especially if you are using butter, cool and solid as you work, so when the pie goes in the oven, the variously sized chunks melt at last, producing a flaky, tender crust. Once the piecrust is in the pan and crimped however you like (a topic for a whole other blog post), stick it in the fridge while you work on the filling.

Pecan Filling (based on R. Chancellor’s Buckfield Pecan Pie, as shared by Ben Baglio many, many years ago)

¼ lb. butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 lb. light brown sugar
6 tablespoons half-and-half
3 eggs
2 teaspoons champagne vinegar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped, toasted (4 or 5 minutes in a 350° oven) pecans

Pre-heat oven to 325°. Melt butter, let cool. Beat eggs in a small bowl and set aside. Mix flour and sugar; add beat eggs and half and half. Beat well by hand or in a stand mixer on a medium setting. Stir in vinegar and vanilla. Add butter and nuts. Pour into a chilled, unbaked pie shell (9-inch is perfect). Bake for one hour, or until mixture is gooey and thick, but not totally solid. It’s meant to be cooled before serving, but it’s really good still slightly warm and custardy inside, too.

Click here for printable recipe

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Thanks Elise! An amazing pie just in the nick of time for Thanksgiving baking madness. And now for giveaway number 2 of this post: everyone who leaves a comment telling me and Elise what their own favorite pie is will be entered into a random drawing for one of three copies of the #1 bestselling, Newbery Award-winning, pie-inspiring GRAVEYARD BOOK, by the incomparable Neil Gaiman. Get commenting...winners will be posted Saturday, November 21.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

So, we interrupt our usual blog posting to bring you the "news-just-in" that this little blog has been named a Best of the Web site by none other than Saveur. Which is a very ooh-la-la wonderful magazine and website, and oh, my goodness. I am blushing, and thrilled, and don't know what to say, other than...check this out!!

Framed on Saveur's Best of the Web!!

Thank you, my new best friends at Saveur! I am seriously, completely honored.

Where was I? Oh yes. Chicken Pot Pie.

I know, we miss the summer, it was over way, way, way too fast. But the coming of fall means the coming of PIE. And I don't just mean the sweet pies, although I do love pumpkin pie. And apple pie. And pecan pie. Etc. But I also have great love for the savory pies...seafood, beef, chicken...they are an incredibly satisfying comfort food at the end of a long chilly day.

And me being me, I am always looking for the short cut. Not that I don't appreciate a long Sunday's worth of cooking in the kitchen, but sometimes a girl likes a little pot pie on, say, a Wednesday. In those cases you have to cut a few corners, and the trick is to do that while still getting all the old-fashioned pot pie taste. If you know what I mean.

So this one gives you all the warm, comforting, creamy, chickeny goodness of pot pie...without all the time and effort that usually goes into it. Don't tell anyone, we'll just keep it between us. The secret is...pre-cooked chicken and puff pastry. That's all that is standing in between you and a supper that will make you feel like everything is right with the world. Now, this DOES go a bit over my 30 minutes or under rule for cooking during the week, but that just goes to show you how flexible I really am. (That racket in the background is my family laughing their heads off at that comment.) Basically you make a lovely thick chicken and vegetable base, and instead of all the fuss of making a pie crust...you use puff pastry. Which is usually in the freezer section next to the frozen fruit. You pop a square of the pastry on top of the base and voila! Fuss-free chicken pot pie. How great is that?

I will tell you that as we were eating this wonderful dish, fabulous as it is, it gave me the idea that you could use the same base but substitute a mashed potato crust on the top. Stay tuned to this channel for that one..but in the meantime, here's the original.

EASY CHICKEN POT PIE, adapted from Everyday Food

Serves 4

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup flour
• Salt and pepper
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 large egg yolk

1. Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add carrot and onion and saute for 6 minutes.

2. Add flour and stir to coat. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add broth to carrot mixturem whisking constantly. Bring to boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened.

4. Add chicken, peas, thyme and season with salt and pepper.

5. Divide mixture among 4 single serving baking dishes.

6. Preheat over to 375. On a lightly floured work surface, roll pastry to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into 4 equal pieces.

7. Cut small vents into pastry and lay pieces over each serving dish.

8. Mix egg yolk with a little water and brush over the top of pastry.

9. Bake until pastry is golden, about 30 minutes.

Click here for printable recipe

Blueberry Pie

Oh blueberries, blueberries, I just love you. I have no self-control when I pass those stacks of cardboard containers of blueberries in our local farmer's market. Last weekend I wasn't even satisfied with one of them, I had to buy TWO. Because you never know, next week they might be GONE. The sensible Southern husband started to very gently suggest that maybe one was enough, but I think he caught the look of panic in my eyes and backed off quickly. He was probably counting his blessings that they weren't flat screen tv's, or Manalo Blahniks. At least if I am going to be obsessive about something, it only costs 4 bucks a container.

Anyway.

Here I was for the second weekend in a row with about 8 cups of gorgeous, fat, juicy blueberries, and you know what that means.

PIE!!!

Even though I have the world's only blueberry-loving dog, who was more than willing to do her part with the blueberry-eating.

I am always looking for the next great blueberry pie recipe -- it's kind of like macaroni and cheese. The last one you made was probably just fine...but there could be another one that is even better! I have a crumb-topped one that is pretty fantastic, but this time I wanted to try a version that had the straightforward top crust. I am way too impatient to do the lattice version, but you do need some holes for the steam to escape if you don't want to deal with a potential blueberry explosion in your oven. I usually just make holes in the top crust using a little cookie cutter (in this case I just used the top of a spice jar). Just make sure you make enough of them to allow for enough breathing room -- usually around 6 or 8.

There are many many many schools of thought about what kind of thickener to use in blueberry pies -- after various trial and error I keep coming back to good old instant tapioca. Blueberries are juicy little numbers, and while you CAN use all kinds of things to make the filling hang together like it has been sprayed with AquaNet, I prefer just a little thickener, and am willing to live with the fact that my slices of pie are going to spread themselves out on the plate a little bit. Note that there is no elegant picture of a SLICE of pie with this post...my pie slices may not be ready for their close-up, but man, do they taste good. If I do say so myself.

So go ahead, give in to that blueberry longing and pile those boxes up in your shopping cart. Blueberry season is all too short not to live it up a little.

BLUEBERRY PIE

• Rolled out unbaked piecrust - your favorite recipe or store-bought
• 3 cups fresh blueberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water

1. Place bottom pie crust dough in 9 inch pie plate

2. Preheat oven to 400

3. Wash and drain berries and toss with sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice and tapioca. Let stand for 15 minutes

4. Pour berry mixture into the crust and dot with butter

5. Cut 6-8 holes in the top crust with a small cookie cutter or jar lid. Ease top crust over top of pie. Crimp edges together to seal.

6. Brush top of pie crust with egg mixture.

7. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and and cook another 30 minutes until crust is golden brown.

8. Cool for 3-4 hours and then serve with vanilla ice cream.