Nothing says fall in our house like pie. The smell of crust baking and flavors both savory and sweet fill the air, making it feel like the season has changed, even though in Florida it’s still a humid (or rainy) 90 degrees out most days.
As a child, I remember my mother baking on a regular basis – everything from pecan pies, a tart and sweet apple cranberry pie, her ‘famous’ key lime pie with graham cracker crust (the recipe she obtained from someone at the Gaylord Palms Hotel), creamy and decadent chocolate silk, and even sour orange pie (which tasted similar to a lemon meringue) and mulberry pies, both picked from our neighbor’s trees down the street. The most memorable, for as kids, was when blueberries were in season, as we’d head down to the local blueberry farm, and pick bushels of them at a time from the rows of little bushes.
Truly, all of those pies were all my favorites (I was always more of a pie person than cake, any day of the week), and usually meant something special was happening with friends or family.
This recipe for fresh huckleberry pie is very similar to the blueberry pie she used to bake at home. If you’re unable to find fresh huckleberries, you can also substitute wild fresh or frozen blueberries or blackberries in a pinch. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Pair it with a bold, fruit-forward, Rhône style rosé, or a dry (Kabinett) Riesling.
Fresh Huckleberry Pie
Cassandra Rosen for the Crave Local Test Kitchen
Serves 8
- 2 disks refrigerated pie dough
- 5 cups fresh huckleberries, blackberries, or wild blueberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tbs cornstarch
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind (fresh)
- 2 tbs butter, diced
- 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tbs water
Preheat the oven to 400°. Place a baking sheet in the oven to warm.
Combine all ingredients except the egg and the dough in a bowl, let stand for 20 minutes. Pour into the bottom pie shell. Dot with butter.
For an easy lattice, arrange half the dough strips in one direction on top of the filling, trimming the edges, then the other half in a diagonal pattern. Roll up and crimp the edges, twisting slightly as you go around the pie. Brush the egg wash on the top and edge of the pie.
Place the pie on the baking sheet in the oven, and bake until the filling is bubbling, approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. Be careful not to let the crust brown too quickly, otherwise, cover it with foil and continue baking. Let the pie cool before serving with vanilla bean ice cream.
