Sunday, October 22, 2006

Cherry-Red Raspberry Pie...Take 2


I tried to make this pie a few weeks back, and while my end result was good, I made some unintentional changes and I was certain it could be better. So when Andy asked for it for his birthday, I knew this was the opportunity to make it the right way. When I was at my local grocery store looking at the frozen raspberries called for, my eye caught these big buckets of locally grown cherries. Ah-ha! They had both sugared and un-sugared, so I grabbed them and the raspberries, and headed home. As I pulled the cherries out of the grocery bag, I looked at the label to see just where they were grown, and wouldn't you know it... I picked up the sugared ones when the recipe called for unsweetened cherries. Ah well. I stuck them in the fridge to thaw overnight, and I tossed the raspberries into a bowl for the same thing.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. After setting my pie crust to chill, I got out the berries. Those raspberries turned to a pile of mush overnight. I just can't win with those guys! The benefit was that I did get plenty of juice, and just decided to use the mushy berries in the pie. Since I picked up sugared berries, and I didn't want the pie to be cloyingly sweet, I actually eliminated the sugar from the filling. It worked very well. Someday I will make this pie with raspberries that are whole, but this one turned out much better than the last one. It is so good, it makes the cut for the coming Thanksgiving holiday. You can find the recipe for Cherry-Red Raspberry Pie on the Food Network website, or you can find it in the Recipe Trove.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

This looks like it would be good but I'm not a big fan of cherries. I LOVE to eat them fresh but in baked goods just don't like them. Your hubby was probably thrilled that he got such a great pie on his B-day. Do you need to thaw the berries before baking or could you use them frozen? I love using frozen ones in my yogurt in the mornings!

Erika W. said...

Well Claire, the berries do need to be thawed, as you need to use their thawing juices...And I really think that to get the best flavor in the pie, you need at least 1/2 cup of rasbperry juice. Maybe if I could find bottled pure raspberry juice though...

You could probably sub frozen, thawed peaches for the cherries and you'd still have an excellent pie.

Brilynn said...

I looove cherries, and raspberries are a nice combination.

Erika W. said...

Hi Brilynn! The cherries and the raspberries really are a perfect compliment to each other. The tart of the pie cherries and the sweetness of the raspberries are excellent together.