Does this sound familiar — you freeze a ton of different berries over the summer, and then come winter you have no idea what to do with them? Nobody in the family just snacks on them plain, since most berries are pretty tart. And when you do make a pie, you usually only use 200–300 g of berries at most. I know this situation all too well, so when I realized that spring was already here — which means a brand-new berry season is just around the corner :-) — I decided it was time for an emergency freezer cleanout. The result was this wonderful pie, into which I managed to use up a whole kilogram of frozen berries. It's not just a pie, it's pure magic! :-) The apple in the filling gently mellows out the straight berry flavor. I also added orange zest and cinnamon for a subtle spiced note, but honestly, if those aren't your thing, feel free to leave them out — it'll still turn out delicious.
Ingredients:
- Dough:
- 400 g flour
- 200 g butter
- 120 g sugar
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 1 packet vanilla sugar (10 g)
- pinch of salt
- Filling:
- 1 kg frozen berries (see below)
- 200 g apples
- 130 g sugar
- 30 g starch (I used cornstarch)
- zest of 1 orange (optional)
- 0.5 tsp cinnamon (optional)
- Also:
- eg white for brushing
How to cook berry pie with currants and cherries
Here's what berries I used: 300 g cherries, 300 g black currants, 200 g red currants, and 200 g blackberries. You can use absolutely any berries you have on hand — raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries, etc. The berries need to be fully thawed before using.
Make the dough. Place the flour in a bowl, then grate the butter (straight from the fridge) on a coarse grater into the flour. Toss it with the flour periodically so the pieces don't clump together.
Rub the flour and butter together with your fingers until you get a crumbly mixture. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt, and stir to combine.
Mix the egg, yolk, and 1 tbsp cold water together in a cup. Gradually pour the liquid into the crumb mixture and bring the dough together into a ball (add another 1–2 tbsp cold water if needed). Don't overwork the dough.
Simmer over low heat for about 20–30 minutes, or until nearly all the liquid has evaporated. Let cool completely.
Drain the other half of the berries in a colander to remove all the liquid. Combine both portions of berries in a bowl, along with the apple grated on a coarse grater (peeled first — a sweet variety works best here). Stir to combine.
Add the sugar, starch, cinnamon, and the zest from the orange (the orange part only). Adjust the amount of sugar up or down depending on which berries you're using.
Roll out the larger portion of dough into a circle about 5–6 cm larger than your pan (my pan is 22 cm in diameter). Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and transfer it to the pan, then press it into place.
Roll out the remaining dough and cut out hearts or other shapes with cookie cutters. If you don't have cutters, just cut out circles using a bottle cap. The cutouts are important so the pie isn't completely sealed. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin, transfer it over the filling, and crimp the edges to seal. Decorate with the cutout shapes, then brush with egg white (lightly beaten with a fork).
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 40–60 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Let the finished pie cool completely, then ideally refrigerate it for an hour or two. A chilled pie holds its shape beautifully when sliced, and it tastes so much better cold — at least in my opinion. This berry pie has an incredibly rich sweet-tart berry flavor that's perfectly set off by the tender, crumbly, buttery crust!
Comments