By Sally Portman, ’13, and Sophie Weinstein, ’13, Contributors

If you have never baked a pie before, don’t be afraid to try.  Even if you make a few mistakes in the process, like we did, you will still have fun along the way and create something for you and your friends to enjoy, no matter what your skill level.

When Julia Murphy, ’13, Cassie Sachs, ’13, and we first started baking, Cassie wasn’t even aware that a pie could be made from scratch.  Once we assured her that making a pie from scratch was in fact possible, we had to find the perfect recipe.  After looking through numerous cookbooks, we stumbled upon one from Sur La Table.  As we flipped through the French cookbook, we found a scrumptious-looking jumbleberry pie recipe.  We quickly checked to make sure we had all the necessary ingredients.  Throughout the process of baking the pie, we made numerous mistakes. We chilled the dough so long that it turned into a frozen slab, and we forgot to strain the berries. Despite these mistakes, the pie turned out delicious in the end.

What first drew us to the jumbleberry pie was its tasty appearance.  To create the pie crust flowers that we saw in the cookbook, we found a perfectly flower-shaped cookie cutter.  Arranging the flowers on top of the pie proved to be one of the most difficult parts. The easiest part was mixing up the berries for the filling. We quickly assembled the pie and stuck it in the oven to bake.

After the pie was out of the oven and completely cooled, it was clear all the time and effort we put in to baking it was more than worth it.  Here’s the recipe we used, for you to enjoy!

Easy Pie Dough

Ingredients:

1 stick cold unsalted butter

5 tablespoons water

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1)      Cut the butter into the flour.

2)      Mix the dough.

3)      Shape the dough.

4)      Roll out the dough.

5)      Chill the dough.

Top-Crust Jumbleberry Pie

Ingredients:

Filling:

3 cups fresh blackberries

1 ½ cups fresh raspberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Glaze:

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoons sugar

Instructions:

1)      Cut the dough shapes.

2)      Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

3)      Make the filling.

4)      Top with the pie dough.

5)      Glaze the pie dough.

6)      Bake the pie for 40 to 45 minutes.

Photos courtesy of Julia Murphy.