Berry Pies Celebrating The 4th Of July

Today we will be making some delightful berry pies to celebrate the 4th of July. Bursting with strawberry and blueberry flavors, these mixed berry pies are a perfect red white and blue dessert!

Types Of Berries To Use

A great way of enjoying seasonal fruits is by baking them in pies. With so many types of berries, you can’t go wrong no matter which type you choose for your pie.

Due to today’s patriotic theme, we will be using blueberries for their blue hue and strawberries for their red tint. Of course, you can use other types of red berries such as raspberries, gooseberries and loganberries, and for the blue part of the flag, you can use blackberries, marionberries or even dark red grapes.

Depending on the sweetness of the fruit, you can adjust the amount of sugar you add to your filling.

Can I Use Frozen Berries to Make Pie?

Of course, frozen berries will work just as well to make your pies. Just take the extra time ( 5 to 10 minutes) to thaw them out in the oven.

What Is the Best Thickener for Berry Pies?

You can choose from a variety of thickeners for your pies. Corn starch is the used thickening agent, as it has no flavor and thickens the filling with no problem.

Other substitutes that can be used to thicken your filling are whole wheat, arrowroot, or tapioca flour.

The Crust

To get that buttery golden crust I love in my pies, I will be making mine from scratch, but if you want to save more time you can just use the store-bought crust.

Should I Add Water to Make the Pie Crust Dough?

By adding a little extra water while making the dough, you can prevent it from cracking while the crust bakes, and you can also roll it much easier.  But be careful to not add too much, as it may form more gluten, which in turn would make the dough tougher.

Add a few tablespoons of cold water at a time to get the right consistency with your flour. The amount of water depends on what type of flour you use and the temperature of your room when you form the dough.

 

Berry Pies Recipe

What You’ll Need

For the Dough:

  • 3 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup cold water

 

For the Blueberry Filling

  • 3/4 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 tbsp corn starch
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

For Strawberry Filling

  • 2 cups of strawberry chopped
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 for egg wash
  • You can also use cream to brush your pies before baking them.

 

Instructions for Your Berry Pies

For the Pie Crust

  • Add your flour, sugar and salt to a large bowl.
  • Cut the cold butter into cubes.
  • Add them to your flour and gently knead them. You should be aiming for a dough that has small pieces of butter combined with the flour mix.
  • Take a few tablespoons of cold water over this flour mixture and gently combine the water into your flour-butter mixture until it forms a dough ball.
  • You can save some time by mixing it in a food processor.
  • Cover your dough in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the Strawberry and Blueberry Filling

In a separate bowl, toss your strawberries, corn starch, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt.

In another bowl, toss your blueberries, corn starch, sugar, and vanilla extract.

Pie Assembly

  • Take out the dough from your fridge, unwrap it from the plastic wrap, and on a lightly floured surface divide the dough ball into 2 portions.
  • Preheat the oven to 400F.
  • Roll your dough to a 1/8th inch thickness.
  • Using a round glass, or round shape cutters, cut the pie dough. Butter or spray some non-stick spray in your muffin baking tray. Fill your muffin baking tray with your dough and create the shapes for your mini berry pies.
  • You can sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on the edges of the crust to give it a nice glazy texture.
  • Egg wash the edges of your mini pies.
  • With a teaspoon, take your blueberry filling and fill in 1/4 portion of the crust. Now fill in the rest of the portion with strawberry filling.
  • Take out the remaining half of the dough and cut them into thin stripes and tiny stars by using a cookie shape cutter.
  • Brush these with egg wash and place them on parchment paper. You will be using these shapes to create mini American flags.
  • Bake the stripes and stars separately for about 8 to 10 minutes. When they have a golden color, take them out and immediately add your tray of mini berry pies.
  • Leave your pie in the oven to bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the edges have a brown color and the filling is bubbling.
  • You can also bake your stars and stripes along with your pies by putting them on the upper baking rack of the oven and the pie tray on the lower one. I prefer to bake them separately as the stars and stripes get to cool down when your pies are done and they are easier to handle ( you have to move quickly once you get your pies out).
  • Now gently place the stars as soon as the pie is out of the oven. Let the pie cool down completely.
  • You can also opt to decorate your mini berry pies with some white buttercream to make your stars or use some star sprinkles or candy decorations for that 4th of July festive look.

Happy 4th of July!

Can You Make the Pie Vegan?

You can swap out the butter and use a vegan option, such as coconut butter, nut butter, margarine or other dairy-free kinds of butter.

These star-spangles berry pies will be the main attraction of any 4th of July celebration. What can be more American than a pie with the red and blue berries peaking behind your star decorations?

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