Tayberry-Ginger Crumb Pie
Today, I will be making a pie featuring a fruit that some of you may not have heard of, the tayberry. A hybrid between raspberries and blackberries, tayberries are best known for a reddish purple color, as well as having a pleasantly sweet and tart flavor that makes them equally, if not, more delicious than their predecessors.
And much like raspberries and blackberries, tayberries have just about as many delicious culinary applications like jams, cakes, tarts, and much more, but today I will be turning them into a simple pie that will be bursting with flavor.
I did not want to hide the natural flavor of the tayberries themselves, but I will be pairing them with a bit of ginger, I think that hint of spice will pair beautifully with the tayberry flavor, and also giving it a crunchy topping.
It’s gonna be summertime in a flaky crust!
Makes 1 9-inch pie
For the Crust:
1 sheet of pie dough (store-bought or homemade using my recipe below)
Flour, for dusting (not needed for store-bought crust)
For the Filling:
6 cups fresh tayberries (or a mix of raspberries and blackberries)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 tbsp finely chopped crystalized ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
For the Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
If using a homemade crust, then roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch diameter. (skip if using store bought)
Transfer the pie dough to a 9-inch pie shell or tart pan, lifting up the sides a bit to ensure the bottom gets evenly lined. Patch up any holes that appear in the crust with torn off bits of dough, then trim off any hanging dough from the sides, making sure the rim of the pan is coated. Use a fork to prick the bottom and sides of the crust in several places.
In a large bowl, combine the tayberries with the sugar, cornstarch, crystalized ginger, lemon juice, and salt. Toss everything together until you can no longer see any dry patches of cornstarch, then dump into the dough-lined pan, spreading into an even layer.
(It’s going to look like a lot of fruit, but remember that it will shrink a lot during baking)
To make the crumb topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, butter, ground ginger and salt in a bowl and mix until you get a coarse texture similar to wet sand. Sprinkle the crumb mixture all over the top of the pie in an even layer.
Bake the pie for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the crumb on top is golden and the juices begin to bubble around the sides of the pie. Check it after 30 minutes, and if the top is getting brown too quickly then cover the pie with foil. Let the pie cool for at least 2 hours (I know, it’ll be the longest 2 hours ever!), then slice and serve with either whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
