There is little in the world of dessert that brings me more joy than pie. They are so easy to make (way easier than you think), versatile, and are perfect for any occasion. Like because it’s tuesday. Or you happen to have a ton of strawberries to use.

This was my recent predicament. A billion pounds of strawberries picked by yours truly (and a tiny helper, although I think she ate more than went in the basket). It’s a good problem to have.

Also good are a bunch of nectarines. They’re my favorite stone fruit and I think they’re highly underused for baking. If they’re a tad on the firm side, they’ll hold up a bit better in the pie.

Two gorgeous summer fruits ready for pie. I like to leave the strawberries whole (as long as they’re small) because they retain more of their juices and give a nice little burst when they squish between your teeth.

Add a little sugar…

…and a bit of cornstarch to thicken the juices.

Toss together.

Prepare your favorite pie crust. I swear by Elise’s. Swear. By. But if you use store bought, no judgement here!

Fill.

Cover.

Slit a few holes and brush the top with butter.

Sprinkle with sugar and then set the whole pie on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Bring the excess foil up and around the pie to prevent the edges from getting too brown. Handy trick, eh? I learned it from the fantastic Sonja Groset.

Place the whole thing on a cookie sheet and bake according to your crust directions.

If you can, let the pie sit overnight before slicing (I know, I know. It’s torture.). But it will prevent the filling from being too runny. Cutting into a warm pie will yield nothing but a gloppy mess.

What’s better than that this gorgeous red filling?

Oh, right—the perfectly buttery, flaky crust. That’s what.

The nectarines balance nicely with the strawberries so the pie is not too sweet and not too tart. Perfection on a plate, if I do say so myself. Take advantage of all that gorgeous summer fruit while you can and make this pie. They didn’t coin the term “easy as pie” for nothing.

-RDG

Strawberry Nectarine Pie   printable version

This pie is a great way to take advantage of ripe summer fruit. I adore this perfect pie crust from Simply Recipes, but use whatever recipe you prefer. Makes one 9″-10″ pie. 

• 5 cups whole strawberries, washed and hulled
• 4-5 medium nectarines, sliced
• 1/2 c sugar, plus more for dusting
• 4 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• your favorite pie crust
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• vanilla ice cream (optional)

Berry season is officially upon us. I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but our long, wet, cloudy spring delayed the ripening of those beautiful berries. It was torture. I even got pissed off and made shortcake with oranges.

But now they’re here. They’re ripe. And we picked ‘em.

Happiness is lifting a tangle of vines to find a family of blood-red strawberries underneath.

For every berry she put in the basket, one went into her mouth. She had a ball. And when we got home we made freezer jam and pie with our bounty.

Local berries are tricky that way—you have to use them immediately. But for others, I have a little trick to keep them fresh longer.

Take blueberries, for instance. They come in those easy plastic containers, and it’s tempting to just rinse them and stick the whole thing in the fridge. But doing that will shorten the life of your berries.

First, give them a good rinse.

Then spread them out on a clean towel and let them air dry. They should be completely dry to the touch.

Next, put them in a container that has a tight-fitting lid.

Place a clean, dry paper towel over the berries, close the lid, and store in the refrigerator. Change the paper towel daily as it’s there to soak up moisture that likes to rot the fruit. Your berries will stay fresh much longer!

What are you going to make with summer berries?

-RDG

I know that life will return to normal soon. Things will calm down and eventually I will be able to sleep (and blog) again. But for right now, I don’t have time to bake a batch of double chocolate brownies or magic bars just to satisfy a sweet tooth. Instead I’ve been relying on the quickest, easiest, tastiest dessert I can think of: strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar.

No recipe required. Just choose sweet strawberries, dip in cool sour cream and finish with a bit of brown sugar. It’s easy enough for everyday but pretty enough for company.

Best of all, you can eat it one-handed. Which is essential when you have a little ball of sweet baby in your arms.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

-RDG

Although these pies are personal-sized, don’t underestimate their flavor. The crust is crisp and buttery, the filling is fresh, chunky and light (not jelly-like, as most grocery store pies are). And most importantly, they’re really dang cute. Also, you don’t need any special equipment—no tart pans, no ramekins. Just a good old fashioned cupcake pan. So you can make them with me.

Ready? Let’s start with the crust.

You’ll need flour, cake flour, salt, lightly beaten eggs and cold cubed butter.

And starting now I’d like you to ignore the rumors that good pie crust is difficult to make. That is a vicious lie started by the pie companies to keep you buying their inferior pies. I know, they’re evil, right? There is only one rule when making crust: keep the butter cold and keep the dough cold. As long as you do that, you’re golden. And your crust will be, too.

I amaze myself at my own level of cheesiness sometimes.

Mix the flours and salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the cold butter cubes and mix on low for 1 minute, then add the eggs and mix on medium low until the dough forms a cohesive mass. It may clump together right away or it may separate into tiny pieces before clumping together—every batch of dough has a mind of it’s own. Don’t ask me why.

Pat the dough into a disc, wrap in cellophane and place in the fridge while you prepare your other ingredients.

Now is also a good time to preheat your oven to 400F and place your cupcake pan in the freezer. Because the fish sticks need company.

You’ll need strawberries. I was delighted when these hit the stores this spring. The real ones—not the fake rubbery-tasting look-a-likes that pass for strawberries in the winter months.

Their little strawberry faces make me smile.

After you’ve washed, dried and de-stemmed them, remove any mushy or un-ripe parts and chop each berry in half. Quarters if they’re huge.

Next, in a small bowl mix together some flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch and a dash each of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Toss the strawberries in a little vanilla extract (or a Grand Marnier if you’re feeling naughty)…

…and coat them in the flour/sugar mixture.

Remove your dough from the fridge.

On a clean surface, roll out 3/4 of your pie dough until it is about 1/8″ thick. Return the remaining 1/4 of the dough to the fridge.

Cut circles in the dough using a round that is approximately 3″ in diameter. None of my cookie cutters were quite the right size, so I used this gorgeous coffee cup that my dear Ma-in-law gave me. It worked perfectly.

Cut a total of 9 circles. If at any point the dough is no longer cold (you’ll know—it will begin to stick to your work surface), place it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes and then continue. It will be a pain in the butt to work with if it gets warm.

Remove the cupcake pan from the freezer (the cold temperature will make shaping the dough easier) and lightly grease the cups with butter. Press and stretch each round into the cup, making sure that there are no holes in the dough. If you find a hole that you can’t seem to fix, pinch a small piece from the remaining dough in the fridge and use it to patch the hole. Then overfill the pies with the strawberry mixture—the berries will shrink down while cooking. I used my fingers to arrange the berries to ensure the maximum amount of berry goodness in each little pie.

Roll out the remaining dough to 1/8″ thickness. Use a pizza cutter to slice strips that are 1/4″ to 1/3″ in width.

Jeez, I’m giving a lot of annoying measurements in this recipe. I apologize. Don’t listen to me—just go with your gut.

Lay three or four strips across the pie in one direction, pinching the ends off as you go. Press each seam together so they adhere.

You could make a true woven lattice crust here if you have more patience than the Dali Lama and incredibly dextrous fingers. Which I do not. You know who would be remarkably good at making these pies? John Cusack’s character in Being John Malkovich.

While we’re discussing pop culture, let’s play Where’s Waldo with the photo below. Can you spy the pie that I tried to weave into a lattice crust? My attempt lasted all of five seconds. And then I threw in the towel and chucked Waldo against the wall.

Place your cupcake pan on top of a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake for 30-40 minutes. If at anytime the crust is becoming too brown, cover with foil and continue baking.

And when they’re done? Masterpieces, my friends. Masterpieces. Although (and I hate to tell you this now, after you’ve done all this work) you have to give them an hour or two to cool before eating. Otherwise you’ll have a gooey red mess that is very un-pretty.

But once they’re ready to eat? Oh, baby. Get ready for some strawberry lovin’.

I’m not even going to say anything else for a few and let you enjoy these photos:

For me, this is as close to perfect as pie can get. The crust is crisp but not hard. The filling showcases the flavor of the strawberries—it doesn’t mask it in a barrage of goo. They’re not overly sweet. The crust has a buttery richness that is nicely complimented by the flavor of the berries. The….

Okay, once again, shutting up.

I can’t seem to say enough about these little beauties, so I’ll leave you with one last thing: you need these in your life. Like, yesterday.

Happy hump day!

-RDG

Mini Strawberry Pies

For the crust: (Inspired by a basic crust recipe in James Peterson’s Baking)

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 2 lightly beaten eggs

Mix the flours and salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the cold butter cubes and mix on low for 1 minute, then add the eggs and mix on medium low until the dough forms a cohesive mass. Pat the dough into a disc, wrap in cellophane and place in the fridge.

For the filling:

• 1 1/2 lbs fresh strawberries, to yield about 4 cups halved strawberries
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (not packed)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 dash cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl mix together the dry ingredients. In a larger bowl, toss the strawberries with the vanilla extract and then toss with the dry ingredients.

To assemble the pies:

Preheat oven to 400F. Place a cupcake pan in the freezer.

On a clean surface, roll out 3/4 of your pie dough until it is about 1/8″ thick. Return the remaining 1/4 of the dough to the fridge.

Cut circles in the rolled-out dough using a round that is approximately 3″ in diameter to make a total of 9 circles. Remove cupcake pan from fridge and lightly grease 9 of the cups with butter. Gently press each dough round into greased cups, coming all the way up the edges and leaving a small rim of dough at the top. Patch any holes with a pinch of extra dough from the refrigerator. If at any time you’re working with the dough and it becomes sticky, wrap and place in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes before continuing.

Overfill each pie with strawberry mixture. Roll out remaining dough and slice into 1/4″ to 1/3″ strips. Lay strips of dough across each pie in a criss-cross pattern, pinching each seam together as you go along. Place cupcake pan on top of baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes. If the crust is ever becoming too brown, cover pies with aluminum foil and continue baking. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes, then remove and let pies cool completely on a wire rack before serving. Makes 9 pies.