Happy (I thought it was) Flag Day! 🇺🇸
Vegan Flag Pie

Pie is not really my thing, but it’s now berry season!

And I have had this Willams Sonoma Flag Pie Top crust-cutter for quite some time. After a visit to my neighborhood farmers market and picking some beautiful strawberries, I busted it out. Plus, I was totally sure today, Sunday June 9th, was Flag Day! But it’s not… but whatevs.

Then I had an excited idea to make blueberry filling under the stars and strawberry and cherry under the stripes. 🇺🇸 So let’s get started on the vegan berry pie for Flag Day.

Red

4 cups fresh pitted cherries

3 cups strawberries, chopped–divided

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2/3 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1.) Combine cherries, 2 cup of the strawberries, water, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and ginger in large saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens, about 10-15 minutes.

2.) Take off heat and stir in remaining fresh strawberries. Allow to cool while continuing onward to the blueberries.

Blue

2 cups blueberries, rinsed thoroughly

3 & 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

3 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 & 1/2 teaspoons water

2 teaspoons cold Earth Balance

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1.) Combine blueberries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens, about 10-15 minutes.

2.) Take off heat and stir in Earth balance and lemon gently. Allow to cool while continuing onward to the crust.

Pie Crust

Notes: It’s so much easier to use a scale, so I’m going to start doing recipes in grams. This is the Frey crust that I love so much, but I adapted it for these sweet purposes. I subbed the sage with sugar and cut the salt. I used a 9.5 inch glass pie pan from

341 grams all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 cup coconut oil (at room temperature)–I used unrefined because that’s what I had. If you don’t want coconut taste, used refined.

3/4 cup ice water

1.) In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Mix well.

2.) Measure 1 cup of room temperature coconut oil and then drop blobs of the coconut oil into the flour mixture.

3.) Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut it into the flour mixture until a coarse meal texture is obtained.

4.) Sprinkle ice water over the flour a couple of tablespoons at a time, mixing gradually with fork until the dough sticks together. Add more water by the tablespoon until the dough comes together with your hands, but isn’t sticky.

5.) Form the dough into a ball but try not to handle it too much, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. [A perfect 30 minutes would be the first half hour of The Place Beyond the Pines. In fact, the first 30 minutes are the only part of the movie worth watching. Spoiler alert: Ryan Gosling dies. Also unfortunate, he puts on his shirt. Besides Mr. Gosling’s paternal pangs, Mike Patton’s music is wonderful.]

Assembly

6.) Go ahead and preheat the oven now. 375. Take dough out of refrigerator and cut into two even blobs. Roll one of them out for the pie base, then go ahead and get the dough in the pan carefully.

7.) Now put your filling in the pie pan like so. You know how the United States flag looks like. Set aside while you prepare the top. If it is too warm, let it firm up in the fridge.

8.) Give a quick spray of coconut oil on both pieces of the pie cutter, then dust with flour. Don’t forget to do this to both pieces. I forgot one of the pieces and had to do it all over as it did not release easily from the cutter.

9.) Roll out dough for pie top, flouring counter and rolling pin as needed. Then roll onto pie-cutter. Once it is centered, use the rolling pin to make the indentations. Then let is set in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

10.) Carefully remove the dough from the cutter and place on pie top. Do this carefully. Another set of hands may help. Carefully massage the top with the bottom dough, making nice and pretty and secure.

11.) Using your finger, rub coconut oil around the entire top of crust so you get a nice golden color.

12.) Bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, keeping your eye on things towards the end. Let it set and cool down at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

It’s way too late to have a slice of pie, but I will update this when I cut the first slice. Hmmm, maybe I’ll pick up the new vegan coconut Reddi Whip. Stay tuned.