Marionberry Orange Pie

A couple weekends ago, I took a day trip to Hood River with Adam and a couple of friends. It was such a great time- fed alpacas (they were adorable!), drank good wine, had amazing pizza, and stopped by one of the awesome fruit/bakery markets along the Hood River Fruit Loop. 

The market that we went to was Packer Orchards and Bakery. Unfortunately because of the time of year, there wasn't any fruit being sold but they had so many other goodies! From butters to pie fillings to cookies, this place had a unique assortment of homemade jarred/canned fruits and baked goods. I've been wanting to make a pie for some time, so I decided to pick up a jar of the Marionberry pie filling. Boy, was I glad that I did!

Yesterday, I was finally able to put my Pie oh My skills to the test and put that filling to use! I made the pie dough from scratch and decided to 'dress up' the marionberry filling by adding some orange juice and orange zest. 

If you'd like to try this recipe, you can most certainly order yourself the marionberry pie filling from Packer Orchards and Bakery here.

What you need

- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

- 2 tablespoons sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 10 1/2 ounces cold butter

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 7 ounces ice cold water (this is approximate)

- 32 ounces marionberry pie filling

- 1 tablespoon orange zest

- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice (this is also approximate)

What you do

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl

2. Rub/cut/grate the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is about the size of peas. **Use a cheese grater to cut up butter. It makes life so much easier! Dip your hands in flour to help the butter from melting**

3. Add vanilla extract and slowly add water into the flour mixture. **Add a little at a time and mix with hands just until everything is absorbed**

4. Press dough together in a disc shape. Wrap and chill between 30 minutes-24 hours before rolling out.

5. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spoon out the marionberry pie filling into a medium-small bowl. Add in orange zest and orange juice and mix until well incorporated. 

6. Take dough out of the refrigerator. Flour a flat surface and cut about 1/3 of the dough off. Roll remaining 2/3 dough out until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Place dough in a 9 inch pie pan, and trip the excess dough to the rim. 

7. Place the filling on top of the dough in the pie pan.

8. Roll out the remaining 1/3 dough and cut 1/2 inch strips. Evenly space 3 strips out across the pie. Fold the middle strip up about half way and add a strip going perpendicular to the 3. Unfold the middle strip, and fold the outer 2 strips about half way. Add another strip down and unfold the outer strips. Repeat on the other half of the pie, and alas! You have latticed your pie!

9. Trim the edges of the strips until they meet with the dough underlying the pie dish. Fold the pie crust in along the edges (or crimp) to secure. Brush pie with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

10. Place pie in the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is a nice golden brown. Let cool completely and be sure to serve with ice cream when you're ready to eat!