Stars & Stripes Patriotic Pie, A Holiday Best!

Susanna Smith inspired this creation by sending me a link on facebook... and I knew I had to make a patriotic pie for Independence Day!

I didn't use the recipe accompanying the picture, it called for canned pie filling and that just isn't the norm here in Ruthy's kitchen, not when making pie filling is really easy-peasy!

So pick a pie crust of your choice. My recipe is here, it's my all-time favorite, but if you buy the pie crust the world as we know it won't end! I promise!!!

Here's the goal, my friends!

And here's how we get there!

I like firm-set pies that cut beautifully, so I do my fillings on the stove-top first. That way, once cool, the pie doesn't ooze and run, but you can just mix the fillings in a bowl and put them in the appropriate sections! I used a deep dish 9" pie pan, so these measurements work for that. If you're not cooking the fillings first on the stovetop (and that's fine!) don't use water! Water is only for pre-cooking, just use berries, sugar, cornstarch and dot with butter.

I didn't have fresh berries and cherries, so I used frozen wild blueberries and frozen strawberries and fresh cherries. Great textures!

Blueberry filling:

3 cups blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter

Mix water and blueberries in 2 quart pan on stove top. Heat over medium heat. Mix sugar and cornstarch in bowl, add to hot blueberries, and stir until thick and bubbly, about two minutes. Add in butter, remove from heat, stir and set aside.

Strawberry filling:

4 cups strawberries
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter
Do the same thing! Mix strawberries and water in 3 quart pan, bring to boil. Mix sugar and cornstarch together. Add to strawberries, stir while thickening, add butter, stir and set aside.

Add 3 cups fresh pitted cherries to strawberry mixture.

Roll out pie crust and line the pan with it. I took step-by-step pictures of this, and I crimped the edge of the pie crust because I love crimped edges!

Lay crust in pan, trim overhanging edges to about 1" +/- , then fold it under like you see below.

Now to crimp the edge, I poke the inside edge of the crust (closest to where the filling will be) with the index finger of my left hand, and using the thumb and pointer finger of my right hand, I "pinch" a small section of the dough around that pokey finger! Pinch! Pinch! Pinch!!!  And here's a crimped edge:

Yes, I love it!!!!!!

 Fold a piece of aluminum foil to make an "L" and section off a corner of the pan for the blueberry mix.

Fill the small section with blueberry filling.

Fill the large section with the strawberry/cherry filling.

Roll out second crust. Using a little star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out five or six stars, whatever fits on your "blue field".

Cut strips for stripes from the rest of the pie!

I cover the edges with two strips (or so!) of narrow, folded aluminum foil to prevent over-browning. If you don't cook the filling first, pie will need more baking time.

Bake at 425° for about twenty minutes.

And although facebook thought it was too pretty to eat, I assure you, we did eat it, LOL!

Notice how well the filling stays together in the cooled pie. It cuts beautifully, so other than apple pie (apples maintain a better firmness when cooked, and have more pectin) I usually do a quick cook of berry and rhubarb pie fillings.

And here's some 4th of July at the farm!

Maple-glazed bacon made an appearance!!!!

Trimming trees to give the chickens more sun and remove some of the shelter Mr. Coyote has been using to creep around the chicken coop! GO AWAY, COYOTE!

Mr. Coyote might be seeing the business end of ... Wait, I can't say that here! :)

But rest assured, Mr. Coyote would be better served to hunt mice and rats and ... anything but chickens!

And then there's this, a special Happy Independence Day from six-month-old Morgan Delaney...

#happy

And Happy Canada Day to my good buddies across the pond! Hugging you!

And a quick glimpse of our new Seeker summer collections, going live this week!

Gotta love stormin' into summer with good food and great books!