Sailor Berry Pie

I’m not sure why or how, but in the year and a half that I’ve been doing Tattooed Martha, I’ve yet to bake a pie! I’ve always cheated by going with a store-bought crust, but I figured it was about time that I manned (womanned?) up and made one from scratch! I knew that I had to make the filling amazing in case the pie came out looking less-than-appetizing, so I turned to my favorite ingredient… Sailor Jerry Rum! A perfect balance of fresh mixed berries, flakey crust, and a hint of Sailor Jerry come together to make this pie an instant classic!

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Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients for crust:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

¼ cup ice water

Pie Filling:

2 cups (16oz) fresh strawberries

1 cup (6oz) fresh blueberries

1 cup (6oz) fresh raspberries

1 cup (6oz) fresh blackberries

*You can use any berries you like for this pie, just make sure you’ve got 5 cups total!

1oz (1 shot) of Sailor Jerry Rum (plus one for you of course!)

2/3 cup sugar

3 Tbs cornstarch

1 Tbs lemon zest

½ Tbs lemon juice

1 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

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(1.) Place flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and process for 5-10 seconds or until mixed. (2.) Add unsalted butter pieces and (3.) process for 10-15 seconds or until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (4.) With the food processor running, slowly pour in ¼ cup ice water through the feed tube and process for 20-30 seconds. When you pinch the dough it should stick together. If it still seems too dry or crumbly, add more ice water, about 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency.

(5.) On a clean floured surface, mold the dough into a ball. (6.) Divide in half and flatten each half into a round disk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You can also make the night before!

(7.) After the dough has chilled, remove one portion and place it on a floured surface. With a floured rolling pin, roll the pastry into a 12 inch circle. If any part of the dough cracks or tears, just tear a small piece from one of the longer edges and patch the tear. This part will be covered with filling and the top pastry piece, so don’t sweat it if your pie crust looks like a patchwork quilt! (8.) Fold your dough over your rolling pin and then unroll it into a 9 inch pie pan. Lightly press the dough into the edges of the pan. (9.) Use a sharp knife to cut off excess dough around outer edges. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. (10.) Pull the second portion of dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out to a 13 inch circle.

(11.) You can cut 1 inch strips to make a lattice pastry for the top or use cookie cutters or a sharp knife to cut out a design like I did! Slide a piece of parchment paper under the pastry and place on a baking sheet. (12.) Wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator while you prep the filling.

(13.) Add berries to a large bowl and pour one shot of Sailor Jerry Rum over the top of them. (14.) In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, and lemon juice. (15.) Pour over berries and toss until evenly coated. Remove prepared pie shell from the refrigerator, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (204 degrees C) and place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. (16.) Pour berry mixture into prepared pie shell and sprinkle with butter pieces.

(17.) Remove your top pastry from the refrigerator and place on top of the pie (or if you’re doing a lattice pastry, weave the strips together on top). (18.) Cut excess pastry off around the edges, leaving about ¼ of an inch to tuck underneath the bottom pastry. (19.) Dip a finger in a glass of water and trace it around the edges to make the dough a bit more pliable to flute the edges and seal the two pastry crusts together. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what ‘flute the edges’ means.. I had to Google it myself and found this great little photo and video tutorial on how to do it! (20.) Sprinkle pie with a bit of brown sugar and place on the baking sheet (the pie filling will spill out a bit so the baking sheet will catch it and save you from a messy oven).

Place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. If any edges come unfolded and start to fall down the side of the pan, just pull the pie back out, fix it real quick, and place back in to finish baking.

After 20 minutes, change the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) and continue to bake for 35-40 more minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and tip to one side for some of the excess juice to run off. Place pie on a cooling rack to cool for 1-2 hours.

Serve at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream. Leftovers will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Enjoy!