Grandma's Raspberry Pie

I have the most awesome grandmother. Ever. When I was 5 she taught me how to play poker (and beat my uncles), when I was 10 she hand-made costumes for my dogs, and when I was in college she taught me to bake. Unfortunately, I have a terrible poker face, but my love of desserts (and of dogs, but not necessarily in costumes) has endured!

Grandma's prize winning dog costumes. The milkmaid and the cow. Ignore the look of shame on the dogs faces. They didn't mean it.

The summer after my first year in college I split my time between Lexington, where I worked at a local ice cream parlor, and Louisville, where my career working with nonhuman primates began. Although this meant commuting back and forth once or twice a week, there was a silver lining – Grandma’s raspberry pie.

When I arrived in Louisville on Monday, Grandma would have a raspberry pie, made with raspberries picked fresh from her backyard. We would eat pie with every meal, steadily working our way through it until Thursday, when I would eat one last slice of pie before hitting the road back to Lexington. When I returned the following Monday, there was a brand new pie waiting for me. Bliss.

One visit Grandma showed me how to make this pie, and it has been a staple in my house ever since. One day, when I get a real job, I’ll plant raspberries and rhubarb in my back yard and my life will be complete.

Grandma's Raspberry Pie

Ingredients: 
1 1/4c flour
3 T powdered sugar
½ c butter
1 c sugar
3T + 2 t cornstarch
1 ½ c cold water
3T corn syrup
¼ c strawberry jello mix
1 quart fresh raspberries
1 t vanilla

In a food processor, combine the flour and powdered sugar. Add the butter until crumbly. (The food processor is a modernization of my grandmother’s method, but if you find yourself without one, you can use a pastry cutter, or even two knives, to cut the butter into the flour. This takes way more patience than I have).

Press the crust onto the bottom and sides of an ungreased deep dish 9 inch pan.

If you don’t have a deep dish pan, you could try a springform pan, or you can follow my lead and go for… I know, I’m becoming cliché… jars! I just did the bottoms because I was in a hurry. Feel free to be creative.

Also, if you don’t have a deep dish pan, you can do like my friend “Dennis”, who just made this recipe for her boyfriend’s birthday and put the bits that wouldn’t fit in the crust into ramekins. You know, for breakfast.

Way to make a beautiful tasty pie, Dennis!

Bake the crust at 350 for 15 – 25 minutes (depending on the size of your pan, of course), or until the edges are golden brown.

In the meantime, combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan.

Then stir in the water until smooth and add in the corn syrup, stir, and bring to a boil.

Once it starts to boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes until it thickens up.

Remove this from the heat and stir in the jello and vanilla until the jello is dissolved.

Cool this to room temperature, about half an hour. If you’re in a hurry, you can make an ice bath to cool it down – just put some ice / ice water in a bowl and set your pan inside the bowl.

A water bath is a great way to speed up the cooling down process!

Once the goo has cooled, add the raspberries in, stirring gently with a spatula to coat them.

Spoon this mixture into the crust, cover and refrigerate until set.

It’ll take about 3 hours to set up thoroughly, so in the meantime, see if you can get the dog up off the couch and go for a run... hmm... maybe not... she looks awfully comfortable there... ok, change of plan. Join the dog on the couch for a nap.

Try serving your pie with a little homemade vanilla ice cream (you don't even have to make it patriotic!), and enjoy!