Mini Bumbleberry Pies

Bumbleberry pies are {in my humble opinion} the best berry pie ever invented. They contain a mixture of apples and berries. Rhubarb could also be involved if you were feeling frisky, but it's totally not necessary. Costco used to sell frozen mini bumbleberry pies that were to die for. Never will there be a better frozen pie that was more convenient I am convinved. Since I'm limited to my Costco bumbleberry pie experience {and so is my dad, more importantly} my bumbleberry pie is modeled exactly after theirs. My dad's request on Thanksgiving was to have these for dessert. They're a tad finicky, but the ingredients are simple enough to find, and the flavor is spot on.

This recipe has been tweaked three times. In the end I resigned to the fact that frozen berries produce super juice overload spillage {which is fine if you've got a baking sheet to catch the liquid and you don't mind messy pies}. Fresh berries will wait until they're cooked to release their juices whereas a thawed frozen berry will bleed its juices well before it gets into the oven. If you want to use frozen berries let them thaw at room temp, not in the microwave {microwaving will draw out even more juice}. Using frozen berries you won't have to sacrifice taste, just aesthetics and nonsticky hands.

Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) cold salted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 cup ice cold water

Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor. Add in the cold butter pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand with some larger pea sized pieces of butter running throughout. Slowly add in the ice water while pulsing until the mixture begins to come together. Dump onto a sheet of plastic wrap and divide into two balls. Flatten each, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Source: Adapted from Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn.

Filling and Assembly

1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 cup strawberries, diced
1 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 recipe for pie crust (above)
1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup turbanado sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss all of the fruit together in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl whisk together the sugar and flour.

Roll out half of the pie crust to about 1/8-1/4" thickness. Cut about three large circles from the crust and place into mini pie tins. Repeat with the other pie crust (if you don't have enough pie tins then you'll have to make these in batches). There should be about 1/2-1" of hangover.

Now toss together the fruit and sugar-flour mixture (if you're only using half the pie dough you should toss half the fruit with half the sugar-flour mix). Waiting to the last minute ensures the least amount of maceration and makes filling and baking easier. Fill each mini pie tin to the top and bring up the sides of the pie dough to cover the filling, leaving a small amount in the middle uncovered. Brush the dough with the cream and sprinkle heavily with turbanado sugar.

Bake on a large baking sheet loosely covered with foil for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake uncovered for 35 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Taste of Home.