Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1972.
I am a fruit-pie alamode junkie. My favorites, in order, are rhubarb, blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry (I like others too, these are just my favorites). This will sound snobby, but I've reached a point where I only use fresh fruit, rarely frozen and NEVER canned fillings, which are just god-awful once you've started using fresh ingredients (except for pumpkin pie). Also, most recipes don't call for "cooking" the ingredients prior to assembling the pie - just toss with sugar and flour and dump in.
My favorite pie pans are the el-cheapo Ecko brand from Target and other places. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this website, their dark-gray color absorbs heat better, browning the bottom of the pies and helping to cook the filling so it isn't very runny.
Most recipes suggest crimping a strip of aluminum foil around the outer edge of the pie to prevent the edge-crust from over-browning, which you remove for the last 15 minutes of baking. This seems pretty necessary to me. I have found some simple "pie guards" that you can get that do the same thing.
| Pastry for two-crust pie | |
| 1/2 cup sugar | |
| 1/3 cup all-purpose flour | |
| 1/2 tsp cinnamon, if desired (I usually add this, maybe slightly less - it provides just a faint hint of cinnamon) | |
| 4 cups fresh blueberries | |
| 1 tablespoon lemon juice | |
| 2 tablespoons butter or margarine |
Stir together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Mix lightly with berries. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan, sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, cut slits in crust for steam to escape. Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking. Bake at 425 degrees, 35 to 45 minutes, or until crust is nicely browned and juice bubbles through slits. Serve warm with ice cream. Try to avoid eating half the pie in one sitting, like I typically do.