Patriotic (Flag) Pie

I love making these flag pies because they are so beautiful and festive. I’ll let you in on a little secret- they are way easier to make than they look.

All you need are some star shaped cookie cutters. I use about a 1″ one that I found at Michaels, and a few smaller star shaped fondant colors that I found on Amazon.

I usually do cherry and blueberry, because I think the flavors compliment each other nicely, but you could also do strawberry, raspberry, or strawberry rhubarb for the red and blackberry for the blue. Alternatively, I’ve made this pie in all apple, or all berry, and just done the flag pattern over it without worrying about colors. I usually have a lot of pie orders on the 4th of July, and people want apple- it still looks great.

Enjoy!

CRUST

your favorite double pie crust. Here’s mine.

CHERRY PIE FILLING

4-5 cups (two cans, if using canned cherries) of tart pie cherries, pitted
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

BLUEBERRY FILLING

1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups blueberries, washed and drained
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Instructions

To make the crust: Divide the pastry into two pieces — one about 2/3 of the total, the other 1/3. Roll the larger piece of pastry into a round, and place it in a 9″ pie pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
To make the cherry filling: Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon, and toss with cherries in a medium saucepan (if you are using canned cherries, drain the juice- more juice will come out as it cooks) cook over medium heat until the juice has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
To make the blueberry filling: Whisk together the sugar and flour. Toss the blueberries with the sugar mixture, then stir in the lemon juice.
Using foil, create a 90° wedge of the pie shell and fill it with blueberry filling and the remaining 270° wedge with cherry. Click here for a visual of this step.
Roll the remaining crust into a 10″ x 6″ rectangle about 3/8″ thick. Cut the dough, lengthwise, into five to six 3/4″-wide, 10″-long strips. Cut five 1″ stars and some smaller stars from the remaining dough.
Place the strips parallel to one another over the cherry section, cutting any excess off the ends and pinching them to the edge of the crust.
Place the stars atop the blueberry filling.
Brush stars, stripes, and outer crust with egg wash (1 egg + 2 tablespoons water, whipped together), and sprinkle with sparkling sugar, if desired.
Place the pie on a baking sheet (to catch the drips), and bake for 60 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust nicely browned.
Remove the pie from the oven, and let it cool for at least an hour before serving.
Yield: one 9″ pie.