Black Raspberry and Cherry Pie with a Gluten Free Crust

Black Raspberry and Cherry Pie with a Gluten Free Crust. Make it with fresh berries and cherries in the summer and use frozen in deep dark winter.

It is Berry Week! I’m joining with some other bloggers to celebrate one of the best parts of summer; berries!

I have wanted to get this recipe up on the blog for over a year now but every time I’ve made it, it’s been for a family event so I haven’t been able to get good photos of it for the blog. I’ve made it with a regular crust and a gluten-free crust many times over the past two years. Finally, about a month ago I was able to get some half decent shots of it and I knew that Berry Week would be the perfect time to post it.

Cherries aren’t technically a berry, they are a stone fruit, but black raspberries sure are. I had never seen black raspberries before I walked into Martin’s Family Fruit Farm a couple of years ago and saw pints and flats of these gorgeous berries on display. It happened to be my first year canning so I bought a flat of them. That first year I made Black Raspberry and Chambord Jam and froze bags of black raspberries. I did make this pie that first year but it was Christmas and who has time to photograph a pie on Christmas Day when you are hosting family for dinner?

If you can get a hold of black raspberries then buy as many as you think your freezer or plans for canning can handle. I love canning them with cherries in a simple syrup which is perfect on ice cream, pound cake, yogurt or Pavlova. With the flat that I bought today I plan on making black raspberry syrup to add to sparkling water and likely some type of compote. Thanks, Gloria Nicol, for the suggestions.

I have a love/hate relationship with making pies. I feel very accomplished when rolling out the crust works perfectly and it easily transfers to the pie plate. This seldom happens. It often cracks or I forget to hold the dough when it is rolled onto the rolling pin and it unrolls into a heap. It is during the pie dough transfer stage that I tell my husband to keep Timothy well out of earshot. If things go south then I usually curse a blue streak with a heavy emphasis on the F-bomb. This is why I use a method of rolling out dough and transferring the dough with wax paper. I may swear a lot when I make pies, a trait I inherited from my mother, but I do make perfectly flaky pastry that people rave about. Yes, I am bragging a little bit.

If you don’t need to make a gluten-free pie crust then you can use regular flour in this recipe. A bonus with making gluten-free pie crust is that you don’t really have to worry as much about over-working the dough which develops the gluten in regular pie crusts. You still have to be conscious of keeping the butter and lard cold though.

When I make a pie it is a bit of an event and because of this when I make a pie, I only make deep dish pies. I use 8 cups of fruit in my pies. Yep, none of this 4 cup crap. Whether it is an apple pie or a berry pie, I pile as much fruit as I possibly can into that pie plate before slapping that top crust on the pie. Since there is so much fruit in my pies, it will inevitably dribble over. Oh well. I put a piece of foil right on the bottom of the oven, under the rack to save a little clean up. It doesn’t work perfectly but it helps.

I often use frozen berries for pies and they work great. You do not need to thaw the berries before you use them but you will have to bake the pie a lot longer than if you had used fresh. I bake my pies for 15 minutes at 425 F and then turn it down to 350 F for usually at least another hour. When the filling starts to bubble in the middle it is done. Although sometimes it is bubbling over so much I just take it out before I see it bubble in the middle. The key is to see a lot of bubbling, hopefully in the middle of the pie, otherwise the corn starch will not work and you will have a gloopy underdone pie filling. Corn starch must boil with the liquid for it to do its job, which is to thicken the pie filling.

(L to R) Roll out dough between two pieces of wax paper with flour on top and bottom of crust. Place the rolling pin on one side of the dough and lift the dough using the wax paper. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin. Hold the dough gently on the rolling pin and lift the rolling pin up. Move it so that the end of the dough is on the edge of the pie plate and slowly unwrap the dough from around the rolling pin. If it cracks, press it back together using your fingers.

Black Raspberry and Cherry Pie with a Gluten Free Crust

Christina Austin

Delicious combination of black raspberries and cherries in a gluten-free pie crust. This a deep dish, full-on berry pie that uses frozen black raspberries and cherries.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

Gluten Free Pie Crust

• 2 cups All Purpose Gluten Free Flour such as Bob’s Red Mill + more for rolling
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup cold butter cubed
• 1/2 cup cold lard cubed
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 egg lightly beaten for brushing on the pie crust edge and top

Black Raspberry and Cherry Filling

• 8 cups black raspberries and cherries frozen*
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 5 tbsp corn starch

Instructions

 

Gluten Free Pie Crust

• Put the GF flour in the bowl of a food processor with a blade attachment. Add the other dry ingredients and pulse the machine a few times to mix them together.
• Add the cubed butter and lard and pulse the machine until the fat is size of small peas mixed with the flour.
• Mix the water, vinegar and egg together in a small bowl and pour it into the flour mixture in the food processor.
• Pulse the machine until the dough starts to come together into a ball.
• Turn the loose ball of dough onto a floured board. Gently knead it so that it comes together in a ball. Divide the ball in two and flatten each half into a disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least a half an hour.
• Place a large piece of wax paper on a large board and dust it well with flour. Place one disc of dough on the piece of floured wax paper and dust the top of the dough well with flour. Place another large piece of wax paper on top of the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin.
• Frequently lift the piece of wax paper off and dust with flour again. Lift the bottom piece of wax paper up on one side and gently reveal the underside of the dough and dust it with flour. Do the same on the other side.
• Put the piece of wax paper back on top and continue to roll the dough until it is 3mm thick. Remove the top piece of wax paper.
• Using the rolling pin and the bottom piece of wax paper to help you, roll pie dough around the rolling pin and gently lift the dough over top of the pie plate. Unroll the dough over the pie plate. If it cracks, just press it back together with your fingers.
• Gently shift the pie crust into the pie plate and press down. Try not to stretch it into the pie plate because it will crack if you do that.
• Roll out the second piece of dough in the same manner as the first. Set it aside in the fridge or on the counter while you prepare the filling.

Black Raspberry and Cherry Filling & Putting the Pie Together

• Preheat the oven to 425F
• In a large bowl, stir together the frozen black raspberries and cherries, cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice.
• Pour berry mixture into the prepared bottom pie crust.
• Brush the edge of the pie crust with beaten egg.
• To place the top crust on the pie using the rolling pin method described above. If you are feeling adventurous you can put one hand under the pie dough still on the wax paper, hold one edge of the wax paper so that the top arm crosses over your bottom arm and flip the pie dough over top of the filling and bottom dough.**
• Press the top dough around the edge so the two crusts stick together. If there are any cracks press them together with your fingers. Use a knife to cut off the overhanging dough.
• Crimp the edge of the crust by pinching the dough with your index fingers the same time you push the dough between your index fingers with your thumbs.
• Brush the top of the dough lightly with the beaten egg. Make two v-shaped cuts in the centre of the pie. Sprinkle the pie with course sugar (optional).
• Place a piece of foil on the bottom of your oven to catch drips.
• Place in the oven at 425 F for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 F for an additional 50-60 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling in the centre.

Notes

*If you use fresh you will need to reduce the baking time. ** Example: Place your left hand under the pie dough under the wax paper and grab the left side of the wax paper with your right hand and flip it over onto the filling.

Here are the other participants in Berry Week:

Kirsten @ Comfortably Domestic – Fresh Strawberry Pie
Madelyn @ La Petite Pancake – Berry Sangria

Tuesday:
Anne @ From My Sweet Heart – Summer Berry Terrine with Mascarpone
Jeanne @ Inside NanaBread’s Head – Annie’s Blackberry Cake

Wednesday:
Lauren @ Grier Mountain – Vanilla Gelato with Peach-Blueberry Compote
Kat @ Tenaciously Yours – Strawberry Smash

Thursday:
Megan @ Country Cleaver – Strawberry Basil Sorbet Bellini
Haley @ Girly Girl Cooks – Strawberry-Rhubarb Stuffed French Toast

Friday:
Christina @ Buffy & George – Black Raspberry & Cherry Pie (gluten-free crust)
Beka @ Kvetchin’ Kitchen – Berry Earl Grey Cocktail
Monica @ The Grommom – Berry Crisp/Cobbler (gluten-free)

Saturday: 
Madeline @ Munching in the Mitten – Cherry Clafoutis
Allison @ Decadent Philistines – Raspberry Marshmallows (2 ways)