We need some brightness, happiness, and certainty in our lives right now.
We need something to make our days special, something to highlight moments like gathering around the dinner table. Let’s be honest, something that makes us forget for a short moment that we’re dealing with something none of us ever thought we’d see in our lifetimes. A global pandemic.
We need a slice of Brightness Pie.
What is brightness pie you ask? It’s a beautiful mix of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, ladled into the most buttery vanilla crust you’ve ever tasted. It’s sweetness, creaminess, brightness, all in a dessert that you can eat any time of day.
Feels right, no?
Let’s get started, we are going to want this dessert ready ASAP.
For enough for a top and bottom crust you will need (adapted from Julie Jones’ crust recipe):
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks very cold salted butter, diced into small pieces
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon good vanilla extract
1 1/2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons cold milk
1 teaspoon salt
In a mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Using your fingers, combine the butter pieces into the flour mixture until the butter becomes the size of peas. Do not over mix! Small bits of butter are what we’re looking for.
In a separate bowl, mix together the vanilla, yolks, and milk.
Stir the wet ingredients into the butter/flour, and knead until it just comes together into a soft dough.
Turn into 2 equal portions, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or until firm. Bring the dough out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to roll it out.
For the pie filling you will need:
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, quartered
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon or orange juice- whatever you can find or have
1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest – again, whatever you can find or have is perfect
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon salted butter
The pie filling begins the same way regardless of if your fruit is fresh or frozen.
In a large saucepan combine the fruit, sugar, and citrus juice.
Simmer the fruit on medium low heat for about 10 minutes until they begin to bubble and release their juices.
Now that they’ve begun bubbling, we want to combine in a separate cup the cornstarch with about 2 tablespoons of water to make a slurry.
Slowly stir the slurry into the berries, and watch the thickening magic happen.
Cook for 5 minutes more.
The fruit should be dark, thick, and when you draw your spoon across the bottom of the pot the juices shouldn’t immediately run and fill in the space. It should be slowwwww and rich. Almost pudding consistency.
Add in the vanilla, zest, salt, and butter. Let this cool completely before adding into the pie shell.
While that is cooling, let’s roll out the dough and heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out one of the pie dough disks to cover a standard pie dish (not deep dish). Leave enough overhang so we can fold the top crust together with the bottom! Fill the bottom crust with parchment paper and pie weights, blind bake that baby for about 13 minutes. Let cool.
While that is in the oven roll out the top pie crust either:
-as a solid blanket with a few holes to let steam vent
-as a lattice crust with 1 inch strips
-anything you can possibly imagine. Get creative
Now that the bottom crust is par-baked, fill it with the cooled filling, and add your top crust!
I used 3/4 inch strips and designed a fun geometric top. I rolled the edges underneath the par-baked bottom crust, and was careful to add foil around the edges during baking so they didn’t get too brown.
Send this ready to bake pie into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
When it’s nice and chilled, mix together 1 egg yolk with about 1 tablespoon of warm water, and brush this egg wash over your crust.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Check your pie often to make sure it isn’t getting too brown! These intricate pie crusts have a tendency to brown quickly, so a foil tent will be your friend.
Now the hard part.
WAIT at least 5 or 6 hours before slicing into this, lest you want runny berry juices all over your plate! Better yet, if you make this the day before and let it chill in the fridge overnight, you will be rewarded.
Okay okay, so I didn’t wait very long before slicing…
So sue me.
Oh, did I mention that if you serve this pie along with my peanut butter ice cream, you essentially have PB&J as a super fancy pie?
No?
I guess you’ll just have to try and see!