A Day of Baking

The Nest was cooking all afternoon, with two major baking projects (the joy!).

The first was a set of 24 rainbow cupcakes for our Children's Theater workshop cast party.  Why rainbow?  What else would you bring to celebrate a run of "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream coat"?!

While I typically make everything from scratch, I was seriously short on time today, so I compromised and used store bought batter and icing (colored in four different shades).

The other baking project, a large pie, was for the weekly family dinner with the in-laws (but really any reason to bake a pie, right?)  I used my favorite recipe, changed over the few years I've been alive to its present state.  I rarely measure but I'll do my best to boil it down:

Sparrow's Four Berry Pie

 You'll need:

-1 blind baked pie crust

-2 cups sugar

-2 tablespoons vanilla

-1 cup corn starch

-1 tablespoon cinnamon

-1 teaspoon nutmeg

-a splash of lemon juice

-1 lb strawberries, cleaned, capped and sliced

-12 oz raspberries

-22 oz blueberries

-6 oz blackberries

Blind bake your crust.  I chose to make a braided crust for this one.

While the crust bakes (8 minutes or so), mix together the berries in a very large bowl.  Add 1 and a half cups of the sugar, the lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and cornstarch.

Once the crust has cooled a bit, spoon the fruit mix into the crust, filling right up to the crust.  You may add some of the juice, but be careful not to add it all (lest you get a very drippy pie).  Dust the top of the pie with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. 

Place the pie on a cookie sheet and set in the oven, set for 350 degrees.  Let cook for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cover the crust with foil to prevent burning.  Cook until the fruit mix bubbles, about 20-30 minutes (depending on the oven). 

Pull out, and let cool for an hour.  Enjoy!!