Take a bite of summer

By Kristen Daily on July 21, 2015 in Blog

(Photo by Evan Feekes)

Are you ready to pie-cycle your way across Iowa? For a tasty treat during RAGBRAI, consider making this fun pie! While pie is always in season, summer brings a multitude of fruit for fillings. One of the new staff favorites here at INHF is this raspberry pie with chocolate crust.

Chocolate Raspberry Pie

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 c (2 sticks) + 2 T butter
3 T cocoa powder (we used King Arthur Flour's Black Cocoa)
3 T sugar
2 ½ c flour
Approximately ½ c cold coffee

Filling:

6 c raspberries
1 c sugar
5-6 T flour (depending on how juicy your berries are—add more flour to thicken the filling)
1 ½ T lemon juice (about half of a lemon)
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of salt
Demerara or white sparkle sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.
To make the crust, mix flour, cocoa, and sugar together. Then cut the cold butter (1/2” chunks) into the flour mixture, or pulse several times in a food processor until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Slowly add in cold coffee, a few tablespoons at a time, until it begins to come together. Next, separate in half and press into a disc. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to two days.
To prepare the crust, roll the bottom crust out first, cut to fit a 9” pie pan, and press the crust in. Roll the second crust out and cut out star shapes with a cookie cutter. Set aside and chill for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, make the filling. Mix all ingredients for the filling in a large bowl, using the spoon to break up the berries.
To assemble the pie, crimp the edges of the bottom crust and spread raspberry filling evenly over the crust. Next, top the pie with the cut-out stars and sprinkle demerara or white sparkle sugar over the top.
Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is done. Cool and store in the refrigerator. We recommend serving the pie with fresh whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

And don’t forget to download the Iowa By Trail app to get the most out of RAGBRAI and trails all over the state.