Raspberry Chiffon Pie with Easy Pat-in-the-Pan Pie Crust

Alanna at Kitchen Parade invited me to join in her Pi Day Celebration by making a pie and I thought it sounded like an excellent weekend project and the perfect thing to serve to company coming over for Sunday lunch. This pie was a delicious way to round off a feast that included new potatoes dipped into cheesy fondue and lentil-beef chili (more on those later in the week) and oh, the margaritas, they were a-flowin'.

My mom, who was one of my lunch guests, is really into margaritas right now. She's become quite the master mixologist and last week I even got scolded for calling her on the phone during 'margarita hour.'

She was never that fun when I lived with her.

The official Pi Day website tells me that March 14 is celebrated the world-round by math enthusiasts, singing the praises of that little Greek symbol that stands for the ratio of the circumference of a circle.

Whatever that means.

I never need much prodding to make a pie. Especially a raspberry pie.

I found the recipe in the pages of a recent purchase, The Best of America's Test Kitchen -- the best recipes and reviews for the year. The raspberry chiffon pie with a cream cheese pie crust on pages 48 and 49  was calling to me like crazy. Both were wonderful.

The pie has three layers -- a fruity, jelly layer with frozen berries stirred together with pectin and boiled until they thicken and at the last minute, you stir in some fresh berries. The fresh berries cost me an arm and a leg -- I was hesitant to spend money on berries I can get for free by the bucketful in the summertime but in the end I bit the berry bullet and I wasn't sorry. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

On top of the berry layer is where the chiffon comes in. Raspberry jello gets stirred in with cream cheese and heavy cream. On top of the chiffon layer is a whole lot of fresh whipping cream.

The photo in the magazine, of course, is a work of art. Three distinct layers, cut into the perfect wedge. It's like an architect constructed it. Just as I've always turned my nose up at higher math (sorry Pi Day), I turn my nose up at that picture-of-perfection and look hungrily towards my own sloppy-gloppy-gorgeous concoction:

You should get the magazine for all sorts of tips and tricks on how to get each component perfectly perfect, in that wonderfully-anal way that Cooks Illustrated does things. I'll just give you the basic instructions here. The pie has this intense raspberry flavor, tart and a little sweet. The crust is wonderful -- just as the name suggests, rather than rolling it out, you shape the dough into a disk and pat it into the pie pan using the heel of your hand.

I almost didn't want to share.

Raspberry Chiffon Pie

Fruit layer

12-ounce bag frozen raspberries (2 cups)

3 T Sure-Jell pectin

1 1/2 c sugar

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 9-inch pie shell, baked and cooled (see recipe below)

Chiffon layer

3 T raspberry-flavored jello

3 T boiling water

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c heavy cream, chilled

Whipped cream topping

1 1/4 c heavy cream, chilled

2 T sugar

Prepare, assemble and bake piecrust (see recipe below). Let it cool while you prepare the pie filling.

Fruit layer: Cook frozen berries in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to release their juice, about 3 minutes. Stir in pectin and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar and salt and return to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much puree as possible. Scrape puree off underside of sieve too.

Transfer 1/3 cup of raspberry puree to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Gently fold fresh berries into remaining puree. Spread fruit mixture evenly over bottom of pie shell and set aside.

Chiffon layer: Dissolve jello in boiling water in mixing bowl of your stand mixer. Add cream cheese and reserved 1/3 cup of raspberry puree and beat on high until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add cream and beat on medium-low speed until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread evenly over the fruit in the pie shell. Cover pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least three hours.

Whipped cream topping: when you're ready to serve the pie, beat the cream and sugar on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Spread or pipe over the chilled filling. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Easy Pat-in-the-Pan Pie Dough

Makes one 9-inch pie shell

1 1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour

2 T sugar

1/4 t salt

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but still cool

2 oz. cream cheese, softened but still cool

Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with vegetable oil spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture and beat on medium-low until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 20 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and increase speed to medium-high until dough begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds. Reserve 3 T of the dough and set aside.

Turn remaining dough out onto a lightly floured counter, gather into a ball, and flatten into a 6-inch disk. Transfer to pie plate and press the dough evenly over the bottom of the plate towards the sides, using the heel of your hand. With fingertips, work dough up the sides until evenly distributed.

Roll reserved 3 tablespoons into ropes, press onto edges of crust and form a fluted edge. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and adjust oven rack to middle posiiton. Lightly prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. Bake until golden brown, 35 - 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Comments

[Val]

My husband was looking over my shoulder and said, "I bet she's big, huh?" I told him no and pointed to your apron pic. Then he asked me, "So who eats all that food???"

:-)

[Gigi]

This sound like the perfect summer pie! :)

[a. grace]

i'll take sloppy-gloppy and delicious over picture perfect and drab any day. i am smitten with this pie. :)

[Alanna]

OH MY, what a PIE! Talk about "springing forward" to summer. Thanks so much for the contribution to Pi Day, Molly!

[Gretchen Noelle]

I love your no-so-perfect-pie pictures! They are perfectly beautiful! Love the idea of a raspberry pie! How delightful!

[mari]

Sloopy-gloopy and gorgeous indeed! This looks DIVINE!

[marcie]

Love your blog! i need to eat the pie!

[Tempered Woman]

Oh.my.goodness. To tell you the truth I think sloppy gloppy prob incites more hunger lip smacking in me than picture perfect! ha!
Now- no dissing the nerds at CI, it is Pi day after all. And I have to say I'm so pulling out that recipe and making it straightaway. This just looks too darn good. *proud CI subscriber and nerd* ;-)

[Cakelaw]

I saw the pie pic and thought "Yum!". Raspberries are terrific in anything, and I loved your picture of the "sloppy-gloppy" slice of pie.

[Lisa]

Doesn't that look wonderful? I just love raspberries! Great for summer. Great for Valentine's Day. Great for Pi Day. Great for........

[Bobby]

Great blog! mmm, that pie looks just amazing.

[White On Rice Couple]

Oh, this looks sooo wonderful. Your photographs are just lovely! There's only one slice left. Did you.....eat almost the whole pie?
Good for you! Let me have the last slice please! :)

[Kate]

That pie looks amazing! I love Raspberries. I think that I will just have to make this. Thanks for the recipe :)

[Tania]

This looks divine. I think the "sloppy-goppy"-ness makes it even more enticing!

[Mary]

wow that looks fantastic!

[Erin]

I have made this pie a couple of times and I was wondering if you ever have trouble with the chiffon layer. Every time I make it it does not beat up to stiff peaks. I even used a metal bowl and put it in the freezer this last time, so that it was cold and the heavy cream was also cold. I don't know if I am doing anything wrong or if this happens to others. I never have a problem with it setting up, just the whole beating to stiff peaks.

[Jeni]

I'm dyin' to make this pie, but my husband does not like Raspberries! I wonder if I could do this same thing with Strawberries? any suggestions?

[Christina]

I saw a tv show of Cooks Country Kitchen with this recipe and decided I had to make it as soon as possible. I went searching online to find the recipe and came across your site here. I love it! I made 2 pies, one for work with mixed berries and one for home with strawberries. Both turned out great. I'll be searching for other recipes here. Thanks!

[Diane Wicktora]

I made this pie and it was delicious. However, the fruit layer did not set up and just ran out of the pie when I cut into it. Also, the ingredients does not list salt but salt is mentioned in the instructions so I did not know how much to use. I used liquid pectin which I don't think would matter, but can't figure out what happened. I will be making this again as it was very good.

[mackenzi]

oh my,
why...
i have never had such a pie
i nearly die
everytime my mouth has a tie
with this pie
indeed it tis a delicous sigh
of joy