Bringing in July with Mulberry Pie!

Is there anything cuter in the work than walking out into the yard, picking fresh berries, and then baking a pie? I love this farmhouse! We do so many cool things here!

Pie is the cutest dessert to make for the 4th of July ever! I made my crust from scratch for the first time ever! (And yes, even us superheros can have trouble getting things to turn out. That's why these pictures you're about to see of my pie crust are from the second batch I made) *By the way, quiche is a great use for a failed batch of pie crust* ;-)

We have tons of great mulberries growing along our driveway. Mulberries look a lot like blackberries, but they're smaller, and they grow on trees. (How weird is that since the song clearly says "Here we go round the mulberry bush"?!) Anyways, here are some things you should know about mulberries before baking a pie:

• Although they look like blackberries, they eat more similarly to blueberries because they are not tart, only sweet. So substitute them into blueberry recipes, not blackberry recipes. this means your recipe should include some lemon juice to add some tang to the flava' ;-)
• Don't worry about removing the stems. They're really hard to get off, and the flavor is undetectable. After the pie cooks down, they will soften and become unnoticable.
• Mulberries will get very juicy upon baking, so it can be helpful to include some cornstarch in your recipe to prevent making mulberry soup.
  
  

All that being sid, here's the recipe I concocted with the help of a super-friend! Feel free to substitute blueberries if you don't happen to have a mulberry tree growing in your yard ;-)

Patriotic Mulberry Pie Recipe:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 4 cups mulberries (or blueberries)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoot butter
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and flour in a large bowl. Add the berries and stir carefully. Pour this into your prepared pie plate with pastry. Sprinkle the lemon juice and dot the butter across the top of the berry mixture. Cover with aditional slitted pie crust, and fork the edges. Moisten the top crust with some water using your finger and then sprinkle the top with sugar. As always with pies, cover the edges with foil to prevent the lip of the crust from burning, and remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 35-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and pie is bubbling through the top crust.


Mine turned out great! It was really tasty and sliced beautifully! Hope my 4th of July pie comes out this well. It just seems that no matter what I bring to our potlucks, Wonder Woman always shows me up! ;-)