Want More Room in Your Freezer? Bake a Pie!!

Well, it's attempting to be Spring here. This is when I look in the freezer and say to myself "We have got to use up some of these things up!" We grow a lot of strawberries and raspberries and there were still about 3 gallons of 2008 raspberries in our freezer. So, I decided to bake myself a raspberry pie.

I took a rhubarb pie recipe that I just love and switched the filling on it to one of raspberries. One reason I like this recipe is that it is a little lower on the fat being a one-crust pie. Also, it uses a no-roll pie crust where canola oil is used instead of shortening. But believe me this is no Weight Watchers recipe by any stretch! Here's what you'll need:

Crusty Raspberry Pie

No-Roll Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup canola oil(or other vegetable oil)
2 Tbs milk

Filling:
4 cups raspberries (fresh or defrosted frozen berries)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 Tbs Clear Jell or 1/3 cup flour
2 Tbs chilled butter cut into pieces

Topping:
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
1/4 sugar
1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350F.

To make the crust, mix flour with salt and sugar then pour in oil and milk. You can mix it with well with a fork or put it in a food processor and give it a few pulses until it is crumbly in texture.

Transfer the mixture to a deep-dish pie pan and press with your fingers to spread it over the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon and Clear Jel (or flour) together. Add the berries and gently toss to cover with the sugar mixture. Pour this into the prepared pie crust. Dot with the butter pieces.To make the topping, mix the butter, sugar and flour with a pastry blender until crumbly or place it in the food processor and give it a few pulses until crumbly. Sprinkle over the berry mixture.

Place your pie in the oven and bake for one hour or until the filling is bubbling and the topping is browned. It's great topped with ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!