Celebrate the long holiday weekend with this easy and colorful blackberry pie with a cut-out top crust. This delicious fruit-filled pie takes advantage of summer’s juicy and plump fresh blackberries with beautiful swirls of sweet and tangy cream. I love this recipe because of its versatility. Take advantage of whatever fresh berries are available and switch out the blackberries for blueberries or raspberries. I chose star cut-outs because of Independence Day. Adapt the shape to match any event or celebration. I’ve used hearts, flowers, animals, and holiday cookie cutters. Save this recipe and in the winter months, when you are yearning for a taste of summertime, use frozen berries instead of fresh and remember these warm, sunny days.
This pie is made easy by using frozen pie crusts. Buy the two-crust package. It’s okay to bake a pie in a packaged pie tin. I do it all the time! However, as this pie is for a 4th of July party, I wanted to make it look a little more festive, so I transferred the crust from the tin into my Pyrex pie dish.
It’s super easy! No non-stick spray or butter is needed. Gently loosen the edges and lift out the crust from the original tin into your pie dish. A standard 9-inch dish will be a perfect fit. Using a fork, prick some holes in the bottom and the side to prevent steam from creating air bubbles. Cover the crust with heavy-duty aluminum or a double sheet of the regular stuff and bake in a preheated oven for 8 minutes.
While the crust is baking, remove the other crust from the pie tin and place it on a lightly floured cutting board or flat surface. Spread the crust out flat and cut out 25-35 small stars with a cookie cutter. These stars will “fancy-up” the outer edge of the crust. Using a medium-size star, cut out 7-9 more stars which will decorate the top of the pie. You may need to roll up the dough scraps into a small ball and flatten it out with a soda or soup can to make room for enough stars. Place the larger stars on a baking sheet/pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Transfer the crust from the oven to a wire rack and remove foil. Gently adhere the small stars to form a decorative crust. Both go in the oven and bake until lightly brown. When done, cool the pie crust and the stars on a wire rack to cool. Set aside the larger stars for now. They don’t get added to the pie until the very end, after the filling bakes.
To make the filling, simply combine the sour cream, sugar, flour, and salt and add the blackberries. Spoon into prebaked crust. I highly recommend placing the pie on a foil-covered baking sheet. It’s been my experience that fruit pies will often overflow, making a nasty mess in the oven. Placing the pie on a covered baking sheet is a total stress-saving hack! Another hack is to cover the edges of the crust with foil to prevent them from burning.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 30-35 minutes more or until filling is bubbly and appears set. Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. Now, it’s time to for the large stars. Place the stars on top of the pie in a random design. If you like, sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the stars. If you had any mishaps with the crust, no worries — we can fix it! In my humble opinion, this is why Reddi-Wip (or similar whipped topping) was invented – to hide any crust flaws!
It also looks festive, and it tastes good. I use whipped topping a lot! (Read between the lines on that one.) Whipped topping is key to both impressing and not stressing. Between the tangy swirls of the sour cream, the juicy blackberries, and festive stars, this pie will be a hit at your 4th of July gathering! Enjoy!
Blackberry Stars & Swirls Pie
Course: Dessert, PiesCuisine: SummertimeDifficulty: Easy8
servings20
minutes55
minutes2
minutesJuicy blackberries baked in swirls of tangy-sweet cream and in a star-studded crust is as festive as it is delicious. This easy pie takes only 5 ingredients, two frozen pie crusts and a couple of star-shaped cookie cutters.
Ingredients
2 refrigerated unbaked pie crusts
8 ounces sour cream
¾ cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blackberries
Optional: Whipped Topping (Reddi-wip) for decoration
Directions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 450 F. Carefully remove one pie crust from the tin and transfer to a Pyrex or ceramic pie pan. Line pastry with a double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes.
- While baking, remove the other pie crust onto a cutting board dusted with flour. Using a small star cookie cutter, cut 15 -18 stars. Using a larger star cutter, make stars with the remaining dough. Gather up the scraps and roll them out to continue cutting.
- Transfer the pie from the oven to a wire rack and remove foil. Gently adhere the small stars to the outer edge of the crust to form a decorative edge. Place the larger stars on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place the pie crust and star cut-outs into the oven and bake 4 minutes more or until lightly browned. Cool piecrust on wire rack. Transfer the cut-outs to a cooling rack and set them aside. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F
- In a bowl combine sour cream, sugar, flour, and salt. Add blackberries and gently stir to combine. Spoon into prebaked crust. Place pie crust on a foil-covered baking sheet, in case of dripping. To prevent over-browning, cover the edge of the pie with foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil. Bake 30-35 minutes more or until filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. Decorate with the large stars and, if desired, whipped topping.
Notes
- Blackberries: Substitute 1 (16-oz.) pkg. frozen blackberries. Let frozen berries stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Use can also substitute blueberries or raspberries (fresh or frozen).
- Pie Crust: Frozen pie crust is the easiest. Refrigerated pie crust will also work.
- Stars: Match the pie to any holiday by changing the shape of the cookie cutter. Try hearts, flowers, and even holiday cut-outs.
- Decorating: Use the whipped topping to cover up any crust imperfections!
More easy pie recipes…
😎Check out all my Summertime recipes!😎
