Just in case you were wondering, holidays are a huge deal to my baker self. Think of all the festive possibilities! For the 4th, the list is practically endless. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and fresh blueberries, a yellow cake with a whipped cream and fresh berry flag on top, cakes with flags INSIDE THEM, blueberry cheesecake with strawberry sauce, etc. you get the idea.
I decided there was nothing more classic than an American pie. Especially after reading this wonderful article I learned that American butter is actually the optimal pie-crust butter! Who knew, that after all of this time of feeling unsurmountable shame for not opening that boastfully gold wrapped Kerrygold (the color of the bougie-foodie medal) butter and instead miserably unfolding the clear Costco butter waxpaper, I was in the right all along! No longer shall I endure countless food blogs telling me "the Irish grass-fed butter is what makes it" and I will stand by my ultra-pasteurized mostly-water American butter. Because it's the American way. Amen.
I then asked myself, why must I be forced to forgo the pinnacle of July 4th baked goods: the berry flag? I then decided that nobody can tell me what I can't have. This is also the American way. Amen.
In the perfect fashion of American-dream-onized good ol' capitalist greed, I proudly cut my shabby butter into bleached flour and made a lumpy crust flag atop my mixed berry flag. To represent diversity, of course.
The result was perfectly delicious--flaky, golden crust that was neither too crumbly or too gooey, and a perfectly gelled but retainfully (new word) robust berry filling. I should add that in my experience with pie crusts (a long, pain-filled history) an all-butter crust is the way to go. Your two main choices when it comes to making a pie is flour vs. cornstarch for the filling, and butter vs. shortening for the crust. My only complaint would be that the filling was a bit too sweet for my taste. Unless you don't enjoy the slight tartness of blackberries against the creamy sweetness of vanilla ice cream as I do, adhere to reduced-sugar adaptation I've kindly implemented for you below. If not, an extra half-cup of sugar should do that cavity trick right up for you. Happy 4th! Or 13th! Whatever!
Mixed Berry Pie
One double-crust all-butter pie crust (I used this recipe.)
2 bags frozen mixed berries, thawed (or 6 cups of mixed berries)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar (more if you feel like it)
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp. butter
Preheat the oven to 425. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Add the thawed berries and toss the coat thoroughly. Turn into pastry-lined pie dish and dot with butter. Cover with top crust (or flag cutouts), seal and flute. Bake for 35-45 minutes until juice bubbles out of the slits and the crust is a golden brown. If the crust begins to brown prematurely, cover with tin foil. Serve with ice cream.
