Rouge, Bleu et Or

I started working on this recipe long ago. It was actually the second one after the apple pie. I was planning a potluck and my friend wanted me to make a blueberry-raspberry pie for his then girlfriend; although he never admitted it was for her. Why he didn’t make this pie to impress his lady is beyond me. I was doing what I was told and was glad to add another recipe to my cookbook! Too bad it took me over a year to get it right.

In the weeks leading up to the potluck, I’ve had multiple trials but the pies were generally too runny and the pan would turn into a pool.

I think this was my first trial

I switched to lattice top, blind baked, changed the baking temperature, adjusted the baking time, and even went to a Chicago pie shop for advice! Finally, after over a year of blood, sweat, and tears (none of which went into my pies, I hope), I think I've figured it out!

 

Crust:
2 homemade pie shells or you can refer to this page.

Filling:
-24 oz blueberries (4 cups or 2 pints)
-6 oz raspberries (1 cup or 1/2 pint)
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/2 tsp nutmeg
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-3 tbsp tapioca flour or corn starch

Crust:
1. Set the oven to 375°F. Roll out a pie shell and line it on the pie pan. Trim the edges and leave about a quarter inch of overhang as it may shrink.

 

2. Cover crust with parchment paper and fill with weights. I use rice.

3. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove pie weights and paper and let the crust cool in the fridge. Trim off excess crust if needed. 

Filling:
4. Mix blueberries, raspberries, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and tapioca flour in a bowl. Try not to squish the the blueberries.

5. Add filling to the pie. 

6. Roll out the other pie shell and use a pizza cutter to make bands.

7. Lay half of the bands on the pie with equal spacing. 

8. Fold every second band back and place another band at the end.

 

9. Fold the bands back up and fold every other bands. Place another band beside the previous one with equal spacing. 

10. Keep doing this until you form a lattice top. 

11. Trim off excess dough and use egg white to seal the edges. Then brush the top with egg white. Yeah I used an egg on this one.

12. Bake the pie at 375°F for 35 minutes on the second lowest rack.

13. This is the hardest and probably the most important step. Wait for the pie to cool out of the oven for at least 30 minutes.

Rouge, bleu et or!

While it's tempting to gobble this up as soon as it comes out of the oven, one must resist the smell of butter combined with berries, nutmeg, and cinnamon as the juice needs time to thicken! Whether it's Cheryl Cole or Dingdong Dantes that wants a piece of that pie asap, you'll just have to do some sweet talking to buy some time. Good luck!

You can actually be more creative with the top crust. The lattice top is required since the berries are soft, and therefore requires bigger steam vents to let the hot air out. Here's one that I made for a friend a while ago.

And on that note, here's a picture from one of my favorite Simpsons episode. I couldn't find a good video of this hilarious scene.