I made this pie for Father’s Day Weekend and it was the perfect dessert for a summer evening! I wanted to share two different recipes with you in regards to it.

Baking has always been a passion of mine and I think it stems back to hours spent in the kitchen with my Grandma making pies. She taught me how to make my own pie crust from scratch, how to tweak recipes to make them “just right” and how to cook with no recipe at all. She is amazing and if my baking skills ever come even close to hers, I’ll be happy.

The recipe I am going to share below is of a mixed berry filling, which I’m not actually sure where I got this recipe, but I have done a little tweaking. The crust recipe is the one my grandma uses, but I have also made a few changes to it over the years. The lattice top was something that I figured out on my own, but it is not hard at all and I will include a tutorial video that I found which explains it nicely.

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do. Happy Summer!

Mixed Berry Summer Pie

Ingredients for the filling:

• 5 cups of mixed berries, sliced (I use all kinds)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (you can use any substitute you like here)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tablespoons tapioca

Ingredients for the pie crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I used coconut sugar)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cups shortening
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vinegar
• water

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place all the sliced berries in a large bowl. In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, orange zest, vanilla and tapioca and mix well. Add the sugar mixture to the berries and toss to coat. Set aside.
2. To make the pie crust: Place all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the shortening and mix well. You can do this with a food processor or with a pastry cutter (or a fork works too,) and mix until the shortening is the size of little peas. In a multi-cup measuring container, place 1 egg beaten, the teaspoon of vinegar and water until it makes 2/3 of a cup total; mix those 3 ingredients well. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix until it forms a ball. You may need a little more or less water, depending on how well it sticks together. Once you have a ball, place HALF of the dough on a well floured surface and roll out with a rolling pin. Once it is big enough to cover a pie dish, place this dough into the pie dish.
3. At this point, you should have one half of the pie crust dough in the pie dish and one half in the bowl, still unrolled. Take the other half of the dough and roll out as you did before and then once it is roughly the size of the pie dish, or a bit bigger, you will begin to cut your lattice pieces. Here is a great tutorial on how to make the lattice top. It’s really not too difficult, especially for how amazing the pie looks when it is done!
4. Now, place the berry mixture in the pie dish and place the lattice pie crust pieces together to form the top of the pie. In a small dish, mix an egg white with a small amount of water and brush over the top pieces of the crust lightly. I like to take a bit of sugar and sprinkle over the top at this point, but that is completely optional.
5. Bake the pie for 45 min or until golden brown. I find that the crust will burn if you do not cover it, so about halfway through I place some tinfoil over the entire pie and let it continue cooking. It is a good idea to place a cookie sheet in the oven on a shelf under the pie because most of the time, some of the filling likes to leak out over the edge of the pie and makes quite a mess in the oven.
6. Let cool and then serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream. You will not be disappointed.