10 Weeks ~ 10 Pies ~ 10 People ~ 10 Virtues

There’s no sweeter way to honor those who have impacted my life with virtue than by baking pie.  For the next 10 weeks, I will be spotlighting a pie each week that represents a special person in my life that has passed on one of life’s important virtues to me.

Week Three  

It’s true that your life can change in an instant.  You can be getting ready for the first day of your junior year in high school one minute and 90 seconds later, the amount of time it takes for hCG to be detected in your urine on a home pregnancy test, your life is heading in a whole new direction.  The rest of that day is pretty much a blur to me except for the timeless yearbook photo that was captured of me with my best friend, Judy, walking into the school that morning.  There’s a smile on my face in that photo hiding a multitude of emotions along with one of the biggest secrets I held for the next 12 hours.  Though I don’t remember much of that first day of 11^th grade, I assure you that it was one of the toughest days I’ve ever had to get through.

Becoming a mother for the first time is stressful enough, becoming a mother for the first time at the age of 16 is terrifying.  It requires a young, carefree teenager to grow up very quickly and dig deep for the responsibility required to raise a baby on her own.  Responsibility, being accountable for one’s actions and decisions, was instilled in me early on, yet it took on a whole new meaning once I held my baby girl for the first time on January 3^rd, 1990.

Being responsible for a little person when you’re still trying to figure out how to grow up yourself is pretty tricky.  I remember many instances where I was presented with opportunities to do the regular 16 year-old stuff my friends were doing.  Those choices were hard ones for me, wanting to hang out with my friends yet also knowing the duty I had as a new mother to make sure I met my daughter’s needs for consistency and a regular routine.    

As she got older, it became easier for me to take her with me, and take her with me, I did.  She went everywhere with me like my little sidekick.  To outsiders, she was often mistaken for my little sister.  I loved seeing the expression change on their faces when I proudly announced, “I’m her mother.”  This still happens to this day and continues to be a source of laughter between us.  Raising a child on my own is my proudest accomplishment.  It stands high above all others.  There wasn’t ever a second thought in my mind to let someone else do this for me.  There were difficult times, but mostly I did it right, with evidence to prove it.

Julia is the most beautiful person I know.  With skin that is as soft and smooth as when she was a baby, the most exotic eyes that made a mother question whether she was taking home the right baby from the hospital, and a smile that brings a sparkling light to her eyes and a subtle dimple to her cheek, this young lady can undeniably turn heads.  But more importantly, this child has the most beautiful heart and spirit.  She has taken care of me when I was sick,  made me feel beautiful when I was feeling like the ugliest person on the planet, and encouraged me when I just knew I couldn’t go any further.  She’s been the light in my life for the past 21 years.

Fresh Blackberries Photograph by Andrea Karapas

In deciding which pie to make for Julia, just like when she was little, I gave her
some options and let her choose.  Fittingly, a long time lover of blackberries, she chose a Sour Cream Blackberry Pie.  This pie is unlike any that I’ve ever made.  Its uniqueness comes from a sweetened sour cream mixture poured over the fresh blackberries producing a filling that bakes up much like a moist cheesecake.  This one-of-a-kind pie represents this one-of-a-kind daughter who has brought an extraordinary sense of responsibility and love to my world. 

There’s no question that being a responsible mother at such an early age has made me a much stronger person.  In researching the health benefits of blackberries, they appropriately fall in the Top 10 list of foods with the highest antioxidant capacity, enhancing one’s immunity.  Blackberry plants will produce berries for 15 to 20 years if you take care of them.  Like blackberries, Julia makes my life stronger, healthier, not to mention sweeter.

Sour Cream Blackberry Pie Photograph by Andrea Karapas

Sour Cream Blackberry Pie Photograph by Andrea Karapas

Sour Cream Blackberry Pie
Ingredients for Filling:
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
Big pinch of salt
3 cups fresh blackberries
Ingredients for Streusel Topping:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Instructions:
If you haven’t already, prepare the pastry and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.  Recipe for Extra Flaky Pie Pastry below. 
On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the pastry into a 13-inch circle with a floured rolling pin.  Invert the pastry over a 9 1/2 inch deep-dish pie pan, center, and peel off the paper.  Tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it, and sculpt the edge into an upstanding ridge.  Place in the freezer for 15 minutes, then partially prebake and let cool.  Instructions for partially prebaking pastry below.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F. 
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl just until frothy.  Add the sour cream, granulated sugar, flour vanilla, orange zest, and salt, whisking again until evenly blended.  Spread the berries evenly in the cooled pie shell, then ladle the sour cream mixture over them.
To make the streusel, combine the flour and brown sugar in a small bowl and mix with your fingers.  Add the butter, stirring with a fork.  Switch to your fingers and gently rub the topping until it is crumbly.  Add a bit more brown sugar or granulated sugar if the mixture is too clumpy.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the sour cream filling.
Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake until the filling is set, about 35 minutes.  When done, the filling will likely have puffed slightly and will no longer seem liquid-loose.  Don’t expect the top of the pie to brown much, if at all, because it isn’t in the oven quite long enough.
Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool thoroughly.  Serve at room temperature, or cover with loosely tented aluminum foil and refrigerate before serving.

Extra-Flaky Pie Pastry
Ingredients for a Single Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
5 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/4 cup cold water

Instructions:
Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor.  Pulse several times to mix.  Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse the machine 5 or 6 times to cut in.  Fluff the mixture with a fork, lifting it up from the bottom of the bowl.  Scatter the shortening over the flour and pulse 5 or 6 times.  Fluff the mixture again.  Drizzle half of the water over the flour mixture and pulse 5 or 6 times.  Fluff the mixture and sprinkle on the the remaining water.  Pulse 5 or 6 times more, until the dough starts to form clumps.  Overall, it will look like coarse crumbs.  Dump the contents of the processor bowl into a large bowl.  Test the pastry by squeezing some of it between your fingers.  If it seems a little dry and not quite packable, drizzle a teaspoon or so of cold water over the pastry and work it with your fingertips. 
Using your hands, pack the pastry into a ball  as you would pack a snowball.  Knead the ball once or twice, then flatten the ball into a 3/4-inch-thick disk on a floured work surface.  Wrap the disk in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight before rolling.

*to partially prebake the crust:  Tear off a piece of aluminum foil about 16 inches long.  Fit the foil inside the pie shell and let the excess foil on the ends just flare out like wings.  Don’t bunch it around the pie pan, or you’ll deflect heat away from the sides.  Pour in enough dried beans to reach the top of the pan or use pie weights if you have them.  With your oven preheated to 400°F, bake the pie shell on the center rack for 15 minutes.  This first stage of baking really sets the crust – not fully baking it, but allowing it to settle and take on the shape of the pan.  After 15 minutes, slide out the rack and slowly lift up on the sides of the foil to remove the weights.  Take a fork and prick the pastry all over the bottom, perhaps seven or eight times, covering as much area as possible.  As you stick the fork in, give it a little twist to enlarge the holes slightly.  Lower the oven temperature to 375°F and continue to bake the pie shell for 10-12 minutes.  Check on the pie shell once or twice during this time to make sure it isn’t puffing up; if it is, prick the problem spot with a fork.  Whisk an egg white until frothy, then paint it over the holes you’ve poked to prevent the filling from leaking.  Put the pie shell back in the hot oven to bake the egg white to a hard finish, about 2 minutes.  Remove the pie shell from the oven and put it on a wire rack to cool.