Raspberry Pie

This Raspberry Pie is something special and is one of the best pies I've ever eaten. It is based on a famous American Raspberry Cream Pie from Briermere Farms on Long Island, New York. It has a butter shortcrust base filled with a whipped cream and cream cheese filling and a jammy raspberry layer on top! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

I first saw this raspberry pie on Instagram where people had tagged Briermere Farms in New Jersey in America. I swear I started drooling as soon as I saw the slice of pie being cut. I love the combination of tart sweet fruit and cream and honestly this is one of the best pies you will ever eat, pinky swear! The cream filling is stablised with cream cheese instead of gelatin and this gives it a really nice cheesecake flavour to it while the raspberry layer is sweet but not sweet enough to call a jam.

Tips For Making Raspberry Pie

1 I recommend using frozen raspberries for this unless you have access to really well priced raspberries. We will be cooking them down into almost a jammy texture so there's no need to buy fresh raspberries for this.

2 Make sure that the raspberry filling is completely cooled when you use it. You don't want it to be hot at all because it will melt the whipped cream.

3 The cream layer is super easy but I do recommend placing the mixer bowl and beater/whisk in the freezer for 5 minutes before using. Cream whips up better when the cream and the equipment is cold. Your cream is ready when you can slice a butter knife through the cream and the cut holds.

4 I prefer to use cake flour for pie crusts as it has a lower amount of protein and gluten so that the dough is easier to work with. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container in the fridge ready for baking!

4 This is the ceramic pie dish that I use for this pie. It measures 25cm/9.8inches in diameter and 5cms/2inch high

5 This pie needs to be kept in the fridge where it will last for 4-5 days. If it lasts that long! ;)

6 A few of you have asked about the pie dish. I used this pie dish that is 25cms/9.84inches in diameter and 5cm/2inches in height. Here is a link to it (and it's currently on sale!).

Other Fruit Pie Recipes You Might Like:

• Sweet Li'l Strawberry Hand Pies
• Classic Blueberry Pie With Fancy Crust
• Strawberry Heart Pie
• Mulberry Pinot Noir Pie
• Strawberry Orange Lattice Pies

I would call this raspberry pie a summer pie but really summer isn't always summer. Honestly anyone that denies climate change cannot live in Sydney because our weather is WILD. One day it is cold and feels like 2 degrees, the next day it is windy and then it is sweltering hot. And I made this raspberry pie on a hot day but when I left it to set overnight and eat it the next day it was freezing and very, very windy so I had to wait another day before I could shoot this outside because Mr NQN told me that I would end up with leaves and dirt blowing in the pie but I didn't quite believe him...until I went outside!

On the Sunday I wanted to shoot this raspberry pie, it was a ferociously cold and windy for a spring day. Monica and I were going to afternoon tea in Chatswood and had parked the car a few hundred metres away from the restaurant. After a couple of hours we finished afternoon tea and then braced ourselves for the walk back through the wind tunnel stopping by a shop to buy a hot sausage that smelled so good that we were unable to resist. We had to face our back to the wind when we were going down the escalators and once we were clear, we had to run to the car. "Are you behind me?" I yelled. "I can't look back!" propelling myself ahead. "Yes!! Save yourself!!" said Monica. "I've lived a good life!". "I won't forget you!" I yelled back.

We made it to car, our frozen, cold hands had become gnarled claws and we struggled with the door handles. Finally plonking our bodies into the seats we were in out of the cold. We sat there defrosting and shared the hot sausage that warmed us up. I messaged Mr NQN that the photo shoot for this raspberry pie was definitely off too - there was no way I was going outside unless I desperately had to!

So tell me Dear Reader, is the weather completely wild where you live? And have you ever eaten a raspberry pie like this?

Raspberry Pie

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus cooling and overnight setting time

Cooking time: 45 minutes

This pie is best started the day before you want to eat it

Pie Crust

• 190g/6.7ozs cake flour*
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 113g/1stick butter, cold, cubed
• 3.5 - 4 tablespoons ice water

For Raspberry Layer

• 500g/1.1lb raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 200g/7ozs white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 10g/0.4ozs gelatin powder
• 30ml/1floz cold water

For Cream Layer

• 160g/5.6ozs cream cheese, cold
• 110g/3.9ozs icing or powdered sugar, sifted
• 335ml/11.3flozs pure or thickened cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

Cake flour can be bought at the supermarket. You can also make it at home. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container ready for baking cakes as it produces a softer texture.

Step 1 - Make the pie crust. Place the flour, sugar, cornflour and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Then add the butter and pulse until you get a sandy texture. Then add 3.5 tablespoons of ice water and pulse and then flour a surface and take the mixture and knead it into a dough - if it is a bit dry then add a few more drops of water. Roll into a ball and then flatten it out and cover with cling film. Leave at room temperature if it is cold, or if it is warm, place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.

Step 2 -Place the raspberries, white sugar and lemon zest in a medium saucepan on medium heat and allow the raspberries to soften and release liquid and the sugar will dissolve in this. Simmer until it starts to thicken like a jam, this may take up to 15-20 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and cool for 15 minutes. Then sprinkle the gelatine powder on top of the cold water in a microwave proof bowl. Allow to thicken for a few seconds and then place in the microwave for 10 seconds and stir into the raspberry mixture mixing well. To hasten it cooling at room temperature, spread the raspberry filling out onto a clean Swiss or jelly roll tray to increase the surface area. Leave to cool at room temperature uncovered.

Step 3 -Spray a deep dish pie dish with oil spray. When the dough has rested, sprinkle flour on a surface and roll out the dough so that it fits your pie dish. Place in a pie tin and trim the sides of the pastry with the paring knife and shape. Dock the base with a fork. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line with a sheet of foil (spray the foil with oil on the side that touches the pastry) making sure that the foil covers all of the pastry, use two sheets of foil if necessary. Fill with pie weights and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes if the centre is still uncooked. Cool.

Step 4 -Make the cream layer. Freeze the bowl, beater and whisk for 5 minutes before using. Beat the cream cheese and icing or powdered sugar together using a beater attachment then switch to the whisk attachment and add the cream and vanilla and whisk until it starts to come together and you get soft peaks. Then using a spatula go around the edges and incorporate the cream cheese into the cream and whisk again until you get stiff peaks. Your cream is ready when you can slice a butter knife through the cream and the cut holds. Fill the cold pie crust with the cream filling and then add the now cold raspberry filling. Allow it all to set in the fridge overnight. Then slice and enjoy!