BERRY PIE

The most important thing to remember with this recipe is to keep everything VERY COLD!!! If you have any delays, place the crust and/or berries in the freezer.
This pie can be baked right after assembly or wrapped and frozen to bake at a later time.

INGREDIENTS:

Crust
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ sticks cold butter
1/3 plus 2-4 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling
24 ounces frozen or fresh berries
4-5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter


PREPARATION:
Cut butter into small chunks and place in freezer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make filling:
Place frozen berries in bowl. Top with sugar, cornstarch, salt and lemon juice. Toss to mix. Return entire mixture to freezer while preparing crust. If berries thaw, they will become runny and make the crust soggy.

To make crust:
Place flour, sugar and salt in bowl of food processor and pulse to combine.
Add butter and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add ice water and pulse until mixture begins to come together.
Remove from processor and divide into two disks. Place one disk in freezer while working with first disk. Roll out on floured surface and place in pie plate. Place pie plate with bottom crust in freezer while rolling out top crust. When top crust has been rolled out, remove bottom crust from freezer, fill with berry mixture, place small pieces of butter on top of berries and top with top crust.

Freeze until ready to bake. To bake, pre-heat oven to 450 degrees and bake pie for 15 minutes. This helps to bake and set the bottom crust, preventing it from getting soggy. Lower temp to 325 degrees and slide a cookie sheet under pie, place a pie guard or aluminum foil around edges of crust and bake until filling begins to bubble, about 45-50 minutes.