The Pies of Summer: Raspberry Pie

In the Reading class I am teaching for our May Experience term, I challenged the students to read a book in a genre they do not usually read. For me, I was left choosing between Amish romance and... sports! In the end, I read both, but I went Amish romance first. The book is The Forgotten Recipe and is all about an Amish woman baking raspberry pies and healing from the death of her intended.

Most novels that gush about a recipe include one in the back, so I was shocked that this one didn't! Not even on the author's website. I had to take matters into my own hands. I happened to have two Amish cookbooks at home. I found a workable recipe for raspberry pie in Me, Myself, and Pie: Amish Recipes by Sherry Gore. I had previously made a pie crust recipe from this cookbook that I didn't care for, so I used the all-butter crust from Smitten Kitchen for the crust.

Red Raspberry Pie

For the Crust
Two 9-inch unbaked pastry pie crusts

Ingredients
3 cups raspberries
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cook raspberries with water, sugar, and cornstarch over medium heat until thick, stirring occasionally. Add lemon juice, butter, and salt. Remove from heat. Let mixture cool in the refrigerator 30 minutes. Pour cooled mixture into unbaked pie crust. Cover with top crust and seal. Score top crust to vent. Bake for 10 minutes at 400. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue baking for 30 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired. 

Recipe thoughts from JennyBakes:

1. I thought I didn't like pie crust; it turns out I didn't like half shortening pie crust. I'm not sure I'll ever go back. 
2. While 3 cups was okay, 4-5 cups would have been better. Fresh raspberries contain a lot of air and once they break down in cooking, they did not really fill the crust. If you were starting from frozen berries, 3 cups might be more accurate.
3. Smart bakers would roll out the pie dough while the filling is cooling.
4. I made this pie with a lattice top because it felt more like a picnic pie that way.