4th of July Parties and Pies

Happy Belated Independence Day! Go America! For the holiday we went to a party at Mina's dad's house. We decided to make some pies to contribute to the party. I thought this would be a great time to share my grandma's amazing strawberry rhubarb pie recipe. Since I was a kid this has been one of my favorite summer pies. It's sour and sweet and always refreshing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream :)

First I start with the pie crust. You can always buy a pie crust at the store and it will still be great. I just enjoy baking so I like to make my own. I like my pie crusts buttery and flaky, so I use this recipe from the Internet. I doubled the recipe so that I could make two pie crusts for the pie.

My grandma is super sweet and she got me this nifty tool to cut the butter into the dough. You can also use a mixer if you'd like.


Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 cups rhubarb
2 tablespoons tapioca (you can find this at the store and it makes the pie so moist)
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon butter

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place your pie crust in your pie pan.
2. Combine sugar, rhubarb, tapioca, salt, nutmeg, and orange juice.

3. Place in pie pan and top with strawberries and dot with butter.

The bird you see in the middle is a pie vent that I got for Mina. It helps cook the pie evenly. You just place it in the middle and cut a little whole in the top pie crust for it.

4. Put the other pie crust on top and pinch together edges. Cut slits in the pie crust (we did a star for the 4th) and top with butter, cinnamon and sugar (just sprinkle).

5. Bake for 40-50 mins until golden brown. Cool before serving.

And that's how you make my grandma's pie! We took the pie to a cookout and it was a hit. Here are some pics of us right before the cookout:

I hope you had a great holiday celebrating our country and freedom! This week we have a tutorial for you!

Mina and Chanel