Where we come from, a tasty little berry lives in the plenty: The Saskatoon Berry. These berries are sweet, slightly tart and nutty in flavor. Our parents have quite a few Saskatoon berry bushes in their fruit orchard, so come late July and early August, it’s Saskatoon berry galore.
I made this pie for a redneck day (shooting guns and bows, quadding through mud, exploring old farm yards, campfires and scouting moose, elk, owls and deer) at my Uncle Waz and Auntie Rita’s farm. People always talk up pies and I think it’s because they have the expectation that they are hard to make. But try this recipe, and you’ll quickly see that they are actually an easy, quick and delicious desert. Let’s get to the recipe so you can try it out yourself.
Saskatoon Berry Pie with Homemade Pie Crust
Ingredients
- FILLING
- 4 1/2 cups Saskatoon berries
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- CRUST
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup shortening
- 5-7 tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 425°F
- In a large pot, combine your water, cornstarch and sugars. Mix well and bring to a boil and the mixture thickens. Continually stir.
- Once it starts to boil and thicken, remove from heat.
- Add in berries, spices, lemon and almond extract.
- Stir until well combined and set aside.
- For the crust, in a large bowl combine, your flour, salt and shortening. Crumble together until the shortening is broken into pea sized pieces.
- Add in cold water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until a ball starts to form.
- Remove from bowl, gentle form dough into a ball. Divide in two.
- Roll out one half that is one inch bigger in diameter than your pie plate.
- Transfer to pie plate and trim off excess.
- Add in filling.
- Roll out the second portion of the dough, trim into ribbons. Place on pie to create a lattice pattern.
- Pinch edges together.
- Place pie in oven at 425°F for 10 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 375°F and bake for 45-50 minutes until the crust becomes golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack before serving.
Don’t be scared about getting creative with the crust! Try different patterns and shapes, bring out the cookie cutters and have some fun. I’ve done the leaf pattern (free handed the leaf shapes, gently pressing in the leaf pattern with a butter knife) and a Western Themed pie with horses and cowboy hats (which can be seen HERE).
Enjoy and happy berry picking!
Carlene
The best Saskatoon pie I’ve ever made!! So glad I found this recipe.
I made this for my family tonight – they said I could sell this pie. Thanks for the great recipe!
Awesome :). Glad to hear it was a success!
I’ve never even heard of these berries but it’s a beautiful pie!