It’s not every day you get to experience olallieberries, so if you can get your paws on some now, make sure you bake ‘em into these *double* award-winning Olallie Pop Pies by Team Doom Bunny Bakes! The recipe accommodates the fun pops, but you can make a traditional pie too if you’re feeling nostalgic. Continue reading for recipe…
Olallie Pop Pies
by Team Doom Bunny Bakes
When I was a kid my Grandmother had an amazing garden with rows and rows of Olallieberry bushes that produced the largest sweetest berries ever tasted. Most of the time dessert didn’t need to be any fancier than a bowl of fresh berries with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream (my Grandpa’s favorite). But every now and again she’d make a pie.
My grandmother never wrote her recipes down and rarely did things ever come out the same way twice, this is my best recreation of how my grandmother made Olallieberry Pie (with my own little twists of course).
*Bacchini’s Fruit Tree in Brentwood, CA donated this team’s Olallieberries in light of the event benefiting CUESA. So cool!!
INGREDIENTS
Lemon-Buttermilk Crust:
2 ½ Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp sugar (Organic Cane Sugar)
1 tsp Kosher Salt
Zest of 2 lemons (approx. 2 tsp)
2 cups unsalted butter, frozen & sliced into ¼” pieces
6-8 Tbsp buttermilk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Turbinado Sugar
Filling:
4-6 cups fresh Olallieberries, rinsed & picked over
1 cup sugar
1 cup Lavender-Infused Honey
2 Habanero Peppers (Optional)
4 Tblsp Quick-Cooking Tapioca
½ cup Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur (if you don’t have Chambord you can also use fresh squeezed lemon juice)
Pinch of Cloves
Miscellaneous Supplies:
4 1/2” Round Biscuit/Pastry Cutter
Jumbo Popsicle Sticks (6”)
Mini pie pans (I used Whoopie Pie pans)
DIRECTIONS:
To prepare the Crust:
In a small bowl whisk together 6 Tblsp. buttermilk and the vanilla extract, keep in the fridge until ready to use.
Measure the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest into the workbowl of a food processor with the regular blade attached. Pulse to combine. Add the frozen butter pieces and pulse 5 or 6 times until mixture resembles a coarse meal (butter pieces should be roughly pea-sized).
With processor running, slowly add the buttermilk & vanilla mixture and process until the dough just begins to clump together.
Test that you’ve added enough liquid by gathering a small amount of dough into a ball with your hand. If it stays together it’s ready to go, if it’s still crumbly add another 1-2 Tblsp. of buttermilk until dough just stays together when squeezed
Transfer the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and shape it into 2 flat disks of approximately the same size. Wrap disks in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
To prepare the Filling:
Cut off (& discard) the tops of the Habanero peppers*. Slice the peppers in half lengthwise, shake out any seeds and remove the white membranes.
In blender or food processor puree the Habaneros with 2 cups of the fresh Olallieberries until mixture is liquid. Pour the berry puree into a saucepan, whisk in the sugar & honey and cook over a medium heat, keep stirring while the mixture comes to a boil.
Let mixture boil (keep stirring, occasionally scraping bottom & sides of pan) for about 5 minutes then remove from heat.
Whisk together the Tapioca granules (I buzz the Tapioca through a spice grinder. This is purely a textural choice and is completely optional) and the Chambord or lemon juice until well combined. Whisk this mixture into the pan and stir until it comes to a boil again. Remove from heat and add a pinch of cloves. Check the consistency of the puree, it should look like a slightly thin jelly. If necessary make a little more of the Tapioca & Chambord mixture and whisk it into the sauce to thicken. Set aside to cool slightly.
Pie Assembly:
The directions here are to make Olallie-Pops but you can also use this recipe to make one standard size pie.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove one dough disk from refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to approx. 1/8” thick. Using the 4 1/2” biscuit cutter, cut out your dough rounds. Lay the cut rounds on Parchment paper and put them back in the fridge to keep cool while you roll out the second dough ball. Roll out the second batch the same as the first. These will be the top crust so also cut out a small hole in the middle of these rounds for the steam to escape during baking.
Mix together the remaining fresh Olallieberries and the cooled Olallieberry sauce. You will want just enough sauce to coat all the berries. Depending on the freshness and size of your berries, this can vary between 2-4 cups of fresh berries.
Take a round of cut dough and lay it in a pie mold. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the mold. Add a spoonful of filling into the pie, take your popsicle stick and place it across the top of the filling so that it is pressing against the dough on both the top and bottom of the pie (you need that double contact for structural support). Pour a little more filling on top of the stick. Gently place the top crust onto the filling and crimp the edges to seal (making sure the pie is well sealed around the stick). Repeat for remaining pies.
Whisk one egg with a little water and brush onto the surface of the pies with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.
Bake Olallie-Pops for approx. 20 minutes. or until crust is golden brown. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack. If making a standard pie, bump up the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for about 35 minutes.
Voila! Pie… on a stick! Enjoy!