Why choose one fruit for your pie when you can fill it to the brim with all the luscious fruits of the season? Have a big slice of delicious Fruit of the Forest Pie, a berry and fruit pie sweetened with maple syrup!
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Make Fruit of the Forest Pie any time of the year, but definitely make it if it's berry season and you can fill it up with berries from local farmers—or even wild berry patches near you!
From my conversations with pie lovers everywhere, I know that folks have their favorites when it comes to fruit pies—perhaps apple pie or raspberry pie or blueberry pie. Well, think of Fruit of the Forest Pie as one that will please everybody! Because it's filled with apples AND raspberries AND blueberries, along with three more kinds of fruit, if you can believe it.
It's a luscious, sweet, fruity pie made even better by an all-butter pie crust. It's a pie that really tastes like summer, the season when these fruits are abundant. Keep the recipe handy for Thanksgiving and the holidays, too!
The recipe inspiration
I heard about this intriguing pie from my friend Sandra. She loves it so much that she makes a trip every year to Gunnison Orchards in Crown Point, New York to pick up a Fruit of the Forest Pie.
This apple orchard makes dozens of pies daily. The orchard folks are so friendly, and they're more than happy to set a Fruit of the Forest Pie aside for you if you're planning to stop by. And that's probably a good idea because it's one of their most popular varieties.
I was really intrigued by the idea of a pie that's literally filled with fruit found in or near the forest. I see a deep, dark forest—like those found in all the ancient Little Red Riding Hood stories, complete with a meandering path to Grandma's house and a wolf hidden in the shadows.
Perhaps Red was carrying this very pie in her basket when the wolf spied her!
There are luscious, wild treats waiting out there in the woods, and in the fields at the woods' edge—if you're lucky enough to know where to find them. You can track down all kinds of pie fruit, like brambles of berries, crooked trees heavy with fruit, and low patches of tiny, wild strawberries.
Don’t forget the maple syrup. In Vermont the sap runs in early spring—it's a much-anticipated fruit of the forest destined for a big boil in the sugar house.
Another upstate recipe!
Syracuse salt Potatoes
A deliciously salty spud to serve at clambakes and barbecues.
Why you'll love this recipe
What began as my friend Sandra's favorite pie is now one of my family's favorite pies, too. And I think it will be a favorite of yours, too!
The pie dough recipe is my Best-Loved Flaky Pie Crust, which bakes up really flaky and light, with loads of buttery flavor.
Inside the pie shell is the Fruit of the Forest pie filling—a mix of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, apples, and rhubarb. The filling is sweetened with a good pour of pure Vermont maple syrup —or you can use a syrup from a local New England sugar house near you. This is a pie that's full of flavor, with a balance of sweet and tart flavors.
A forest berry pie is a lovely dessert (or breakfast) to make at the height of fresh berry season or to make for Thanksgiving or Pi Day using berries and apples from the grocery store.
Another berry fave!
Blackberry Crisp with Coconut
It's a luscious dessert with a toasty topping.
🔪 How to make a Fruit Of The Forest Pie
Ingredients:
- The Fruit: The pie is loaded with fresh fruit: apples, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. It has rhubarb, too—technically a vegetable!
- Sugar: Sweeten the pie filling with granulated sugar, in combination with the next ingredient.
- Vermont Maple Syrup: Use real maple syrup in the pie—the forest's natural sweetener! Use Grade A golden or amber for a light maple flavor; Grade A dark for a stronger flavor.
- Vanilla Extract: Choose a good quality vanilla, such as Nielsen-Massey.
- Cornstarch: A little cornstarch helps thicken the juicy fruit filling.
- Tapioca Flour: This is also an excellent pie thickener. Look for tapioca flour or starch in the baking aisle.
- Salt: Just a little salt helps bring all of the flavors in this pie.
- Best-Loved FLaky Pie Crust Dough: For a crust that's just as tasty as the filling, use my recipe for an all-butter pie crust recipe.
- Egg: Whisked with water, this egg wash makes the crust shiny after baking.
- Decorating sugar: For a sparkly crust, add some decorating sugar to the top before baking.
Prepare the fruit
Peel, core, and dice the apples. Dice the rhubarb. Hull and slice the strawberries. Wash and blot dry the berries. Then put all of that fruit in a big bowl.
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Add sweeteners and thickeners
Add sugar to the fruit. Blend Vermont maple syrup, vanilla, and the thickeners, then stir this liquid into the fruit. Let the fruit sit for a half hour.
Prepare the pie crust
Roll out your chilled Best-Loved Flaky Pie Crust into two circles: fit one into the pie plate and have the other ready to top the pie. Hold both of them in the fridge until the fruit is ready.
Assemble the pie
Pour the thickened mixed berry and apple filling into the pie dish lined with dough.
Lay the other circle of dough over the top, then tuck and crimp the edges. Add decorative dough cutouts and slashes.
Bake it!
Brush the top crust with egg wash and sprinkle it with sugar. Bake the pie until the crust is golden brown!
Let it cool, then enjoy
I know it's tough, but don't cut into that pie until it's completely cool! This will help your filling stay in the crust and not run out all over the pie plate. Once it's cool, slice and enjoy.
Tips:
- The berry amounts are listed in ounces as well as in cups. If you're buying berries by the pint, keep in mind that one pint is roughly 11 to 12 ounces.
- When not in season nor available from local growers, most of these fruits are available year-round in grocery stores. Rhubarb may be a little harder to track down, but you may be able to find it frozen. If you're growing rhubarb, it's a great idea to freeze some stalks to have on hand later!
- I like using Vermont Grade A Dark or Very Dark maple syrup in this pie: it's darker with a stronger flavor. However, any grade of maple syrup will work in this pie—just make sure it's pure maple and not a flavored corn syrup.
FAQs
Frozen fruits, when cooked, release a lot of water, which can lead to a runny pie filling. Raspberries and strawberries are especially prone to this. Frozen blueberries and blackberries should be alright to substitute, but try to stick with fresh strawberries and raspberries. Since fresh rhubarb has a limited season, you can use frozen if you let it thaw and drain away the excess moisture before chopping it.
You can substitute store-bought pie crust dough, but the flavor and flakiness of the All-Butter Pie Crust Dough is worth making from scratch—it's a delicious accompaniment to the fruit. Give the All-Butter Pie Crust Dough a try—make it ahead of time and store for 3 days in the fridge or longer in the freezer.
In the U.S. "cornstarch" is a fine, white powder that feels silky to the touch. It's used to thicken sauces and pie fillings. In the UK it's called "cornflour", so if you can't find cornstarch you can check for packages of cornflour instead.
**Do not use corn meal—this is coarse and not a substitute for cornstarch!
One difference is that blackberries tend to be much larger (1 to 2 inches) than black raspberries (about ½-inch to ¾-inch.) Another way to tell them apart is that blackberries are shiny and have a white plug in the center where they came off the stem. Black raspberries (also known as black caps) have a fuzzy appearance and are hollow in the center.
The flavors also differ—black raspberries have a very sweet, jammy, sun-kissed sweetness. Blackberries have more of a floral flavor in their sweetness.
To keep the fruit filling fresh-tasting, this pie should be stored in the fridge. Wrap the pie in plastic wrap or move it to an airtight pie storer, then place it in the refrigerator.
Keep Fruit of the Forest pie in the fridge for up to five days, for the best flavor and texture in the filling and crust.
The best Fruit of the Forest Pie recipe is below! Here are more pie recipes to try, too:
💬 How do you like this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
The Best Fruit Of The Forest Pie Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 tart apples, like Granny Smith or McIntosh
- 3 ounces rhubarb stalks (about two 7-inch pieces)
- 7 ounces blueberries (about 1⅔ cups)
- 5 ounces strawberries (about 4-5 large or 7-8 medium strawberries)
- 5 ounces raspberries, red or black - or a mix! (about 1¼ cups)
- 5 ounces blackberries (about 1¼ cups)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup Vermont maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (called "cornflour" in the UK)
- ¼ cup tapioca flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Best-Loved FLaky Pie Crust Recipe, chilled (The full recipe for a double-crust pie. Or you can use store-bought pie crust dough for a double-crust pie.)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- Granulated or decorating sugar to sprinkle
Instructions
Prepare the fruit:
- Peel and core the apples, then dice the apples into cubes. Add them to a large bowl.
- Slice and dice the rhubarb into cubes as well. Small pieces are important so that the rhubarb will soften during baking. Add the rhubarb to the bowl.
- Gently wash the blueberries and blot them dry with a clean dish towel. They don't have to be bone-dry, just remove the excess water. Add them to the bowl.
- Hull the strawberries, then slice them into thin slices. Add them to that bowl!
- Gently wash the raspberries and blackberries, and blot them dry with a clean dish towel. Add them to the bowl. (If the blackberries are really big, cut them into a few smaller pieces.)
- Sprinkle the ⅓ cup of granulated sugar over the fruit and gently stir the sugar and berries together.
Add the syrup and thickeners:
- Whisk together the maple syrup, vanilla extract, cornstarch, tapioca flour, and salt in a small bowl—whisk until the dry ingredients are completely dissolved.
- Pour the syrup mixture over the fruit, and gently stir so all of the fruit is coated.
- Cover the bowl and allow the fruit mixture to rest for about 30 minutes. This allows the thickeners to begin working. Stir it once or twice during this time.
Prepare the pie dough:
- While the fruit rests, get the bottom crust of the pie ready. Have ready a 9-inch pie dish.
- Dust a work surface lightly with flour. Roll out half of the chilled pie dough into a 12-inch circle.
- Drape it over your rolling pin to move the dough into the pie dish. Press the dough into the pie dish bottom and along the sides. Leave a 1-inch overhang all around, trimming excess away. (You can save the trimmed bits to make decorative cut-outs for the top.)
- Press a sheet of plastic wrap over the surface of the dough and place the pan in the fridge.
- Take out the other half of the dough. Roll this on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. This is going into the fridge too, so dust a cutting board or large plate with flour and transfer the dough circle to it. If you want, go ahead a make a few decorative cutouts from the center. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and pop it into the fridge.
Assemble the pie:
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. If you're using a metal pie dish leave the oven rack in the center of the oven. For glass or ceramic dishes, move the oven rack down one rung closer to the bottom of the oven. Have ready a baking sheet large enough to hold your pie dish.
- Whisk the egg together with the tablespoon of water in a small dish. Hold this aside.
- Once the fruit has thickened for 30 minutes, give it a stir to distribute the juices and fruit evenly.
- Take out the dough-lined pie dish. Pour the fruit and juices into the pie shell; spread the filling out and smooth the top.
- Take out the other circle of dough. Drape it over your rolling pin to move and lay the dough over the top.
- Trim the edge to be just a little longer than the bottom edge. Roll the top edge underneath the bottom edge all around. (If it's too thick in a spot, trim it back a little.) Go around again and crimp the edge firmly down. Refrigerate the pie for 10 minutes.
Bake:
- If desired, roll out the dough scraps and use a knife or cookie cutters to cut out a few decorative shapes for the top.
- Take your pie out of the fridge. Add your dough cutouts to the top. If you didn't cut out shapes from the top crust, add a few slashes so steam can vent during baking. Brush the top crust with the egg wash, then sprinkle a little granulated or decorating sugar over the crust.
- Place the pie on the baking sheet and put it in the oven. (The baking sheet will catch any melting butter from the crust and fruit juice from the filling.)
- Bake the pie for 30-35 minutes, until the top crust is deeply browned.
- Drape a sheet of aluminum foil over the top (to prevent further browning) and bake the pie for about 15 minutes more, until you see the filling bubbling through the holes in the crust. Move the pie to a cooling rack.
- Here's the hard part: let the pie COOL COMPLETELY—several hours or overnight! This is crucial for the juicy fruit filling to set. If you cut into the pie while it's hot, the filling will run out all over the place. Give it several hours, and point a fan at the pie to help it along.
- Once the pie is cool, cut out slices and serve. They're really tasty with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream! Makes about 8 slices. Store leftover pie covered in the fridge.
Notes
- RECIPE UPDATED 9/13/24
- The berry amounts are listed in ounces as well as in cups. If you're buying berries by the pint, keep in mind that one pint is roughly 11 to 12 ounces.
- Rhubarb may be hard to get out of season, but you may find it frozen at stores
- Frozen fruits, when cooked, release a lot of water, and this can mean a runnier pie filling. Raspberries and strawberries are especially prone to this. Frozen blueberries and blackberries should be alright to substitute, but try to stick with fresh strawberries and raspberries.
- I learned the technique for the filling from the Magpie Cookbook by Holly Ricciardi.
Nutrition
Joan Henarie says
Where in San Antonio Texas can I buy frozen Fruits of the forest pies,
Nancy Mock says
Hi Joan, I can't really help with this question, but I can say that this Fruits Of The Forest Pie recipe can be frozen to bake up later—and it's way more delicious than a store-bought pie! 🙂
Jill says
Way to delicious 😘
Nancy Mock says
Yay!! So happy that you like it!
Karen says
I need to know who the seller is
Nancy Mock says
It is Gunnison Orchards in Crown Point, NY, according to my friend. There's a link above in the post.
Anonymous says
Fruit of the Forest Pie from Gunnison Orchard is the BEST!
Nancy Mock says
I'll have to get over there soon to try some. I hope my Fruits Of The Forest Pie is just as good as theirs!