In my true procrastination-prone spirit, I am now cramming in the last few summer goals that I had into September. One of those goals was to successfully make a berry pie. The last attempt that I made tasted pretty good, but the filling was a soupy mess (which my grandma and I later figured out was because I forgot to use cornstarch!)

My hope is that one day when I am a prevailing queen of the kitchen, I can look back at my past errors and be entertained by them. The night I almost lost my eyebrows starting the grill; putting ginger in a casserole instead of cumin, and managing to ruin countless crock pot dinners will be a distant memory. For now, I will revel in my little accomplishments. After all, I was planning on being a famous fashion designer in New York who would have her own personal chef, so I avoided most of my mother’s cooking lessons…

Below is the recipe that I used for both the crust and the filling. I got the black berries from my grandparents’ garden, and it was my first time making crust from scratch. I think it tasted best after being refrigerated over night. Here’s to many more adventures in pie baking!

Filling:

• 3 cups mixed blackberries and strawberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup raw cain sugar
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• a pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

After combining all of the ingredients in a bowl, I refrigerated the mixture for about an hour while I prepared the crust.

Crust:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cups butter
• 1/2 cup cold water

I cut the butter into the flour with an electric mixer. Then slowly added the cold water, while mixing with a fork. Once the dough was stiff, I rolled it into a ball and refrigerated it for 30 minutes before rolling it out and constructing my pie.