Grandmaman's Saskatoon Pie

Find a berry patch, usually from the third week of July to the first week of August.

Get Grandpa to help pick the berries......he picks fast and climbs through heavy brush to get the best berries.

Float the berries in cool water and pick out the bits you don't want.

Find out how many berries you need-around 4 cups.

Prepare the filling.....see recipe below.

Prepare the pastry, crimp edges, mark with your favorite design (today's pie is S for Saskatoon or Sadie), brush with cream or milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees and then another 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
Serve with ice cream.  Grandpa likes his pie with ice cream, cheddar cheese and a big glass of cold milk.

First Saskatoon Berry Pie Filling

4 cups of Saskatoon berries (Service berries in USA)

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

3 tablespoons of flour

1/4 cup of water

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

In a saucepan, simmer berries in water for 10 minutes.  Add lemon juice.  Stir in granulated sugar mixed with flour.  Pour into pastry lined pie plate.  Dot with butter.  Cover with top crust.  Bake in 425 F oven for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 F for an additional 35 to 45 minutes. 

Another Saskatoon Pie Filling 

(this is the one I used for these pics)

3 1/2 cups of Saskatoon berries

1/2 cup of water

3/4 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of cornstarch

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 teaspoon of Almond Extract (or vanilla)

Cook berries in water until boiling.  Reduce water if using frozen berries.  Add mixed cornstarch and sugar and boil until clear, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add lemon juice, butter and almond extract.  Cool.  Use as a filling for single or double crust pie, tarts or on a cheesecake.  

Pastry

Use your favorite premade piecrust or recipe or 

here's a new one I tried.  It was yummy.

Pâte Sucrée

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)

1 large egg yolks. lightly beaten

1 to 4 tbsp cold heavy cream or ice water

Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined.  Add butter, and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add yolks and drizzle 2 tbsp. cream evenly over mixture; pulse just until dough begins to come together, no more than 30 seconds.  If dough is too dry, add remaining cream, 1 tbsp. at a time and pulse.  Divide dough in half, pat each half into a disk and wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate 1 hour or up to 2 days, or freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator before using).

Reegan made a Saskatoon and Raspberry Pie today using the second recipe and it was yummy.