Super Easy and Delicious Mixed Berry Pie

I have been craving pie lately, and decided last night to go ahead and make one! Kenneth was busy with his friend who came over to help him work on his resume for a specific job, so I had time to fiddle around in the kitchen and get some of my "nesting mode" urges out!

This is seriously the EASIEST pie I have ever made and we all absolutely loved it. It is about 3/4 gone already the morning after I baked it - I ate 2 pieces by myself last night! Yumm!! I enjoyed it both with and without vanilla ice cream. It had the right mix of tart and sweet and holds up very well all by itself, but really when it's warm from the oven it's just asking for some melty vanilla ice cream to accompany it.

The baking times below are specifically for frozen fruit; if you opt to use fresh visit the AllRecipes link below and see instructions for those baking times. I really like using the butter flavored Crisco for the shortening in the pie crust recipe - gives it a nice buttery flavor, but for this pie I used the regular unflavored Crisco. Either way it comes out flaky and delicious. I probably baked the pie maybe 5 minutes less than called for, cutting a couple minutes off each section of time and it turned out great - cooked all the way through, hot and bubbly. Depending on how impatient you are, you can probably get away with a few minutes less total, but not much. :)

Enjoy!!

Mixed Berry Pie adapted from Jenn Hall on AllRecipes

Ingredients
1 double pie crust (see recipe below)
24-oz frozen mixed berries (I used an assortment of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries)
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp (separated)
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine frozen berries with sugar and cornstarch in a bowl, stir to combine and allow to sit at least 15 minutes while you prepare the pie crust.
3. Prepare pie crust per recipe below. After you've placed the bottom crust in the pie plate and trimmed the edges, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp sugar, then pour berry filling in and smooth.
4. Place top crust on and seal and crimp the edges.
5. Place a baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven.
6. Cover the edges of the pie with foil to prevent over browning, then place in oven above the baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 40 minutes.

Pie Crust IV By: Jan Bittner on allrecipes.com (makes a double crust)

Ingredients
1 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 - 1 cup cold water

Directions

1. Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork.
2. Roll gently on a lightly floured surface to about an inch larger than pie plate. Fold carefully in half, lift to pie plate, and unfold. Press into pan.