Season's Best Pies: Berry, Cherry, Peach & More
Sugar and Spice Strawberry Pie [1]
"This is the original recipe handed down from my mother," says Jennifer "JR" Statz, a former chef at the Spice House in Evanston, Illinois, which offers this easy recipe to its customers. "This dessert is so quick and delicious, you'll make it every year during strawberry season!"
Very Berry Triple Fruit Pie [5]
Three popular summer delights--blueberries, strawberries and raspberries--tuck into this delicious double-crust pie. The colorful filling tastes sweet, with a hint of berry tartness.
Tropical Strawberry Pie [9]
This soft-set pie blends plump, scarlet strawberries, a favorite dessert ingredient in the Midwest, with canned pineapple and coconut cream pudding mix. For the best color and juiciness, use fresh-picked berries.
S'more Pie a la Marshmallow Crème [13]
Cream cheese brings body and richness to so-chocolatey mousse filling. More wow comes from the blend of marshmallow crème and crème de cacao draped over the top.
Bear Chaser Blueberry Pie [17]
This recipe, from Angle Outpost Resort in Angle Inlet, Minnesota, won top honors at a local Blueberry Fest. We loved the intense blueberry flavor softened by the cheesecakelike cream cheese. The recipe calls for a traditional homemade crust, but you can shorten prep time by using any type of purchased crust. Our picture shows the pie with a graham cracker crust.
Kiwi Summer Limeade Pie [21]
Refreshing and creamy, this make-ahead pie from Susan Meier of Omaha combines tropical flavors with macadamia nuts and kiwifruit. It was one of the finalists at Midwest Living’s first Best of the Midwest cook-off.
Double-Cherry Supreme Pie [25]
Dried, tart cherries add extra flavor to this classic pie, which was pictured on a cover of Midwest Living® .
Raspberry Soda-Cracker Pie [29]
Meringue, soda crackers, and pecans form a crust for a whipped cream-and-berry filling in this mouthwatering pie.
Peach Kuchen [33]
Like any good cook, Mary Jo Smith of Hidden Lake Bed and Breakfast, in Jonesboro, Illinois, adjusts her recipes as she prepares them over time. She has fine-tuned the custard layer for Peach Kuchen and added spices to the peaches. If you're in a hurry, Mary Jo recommends substituting a single refrigerated unbaked piecrust for the Kuchen Crust.
Peach Kuchen [34]
Heavenly Cherry Pie [37]
A white chocolate mousse filling and crimson cherry pie filling combine for an out-of-this-world pie from the Traverse City, Michigan, festival cookbook, Cherry Creations.
Heavenly Cherry Pie [38]
Blackberry-Pecan Streusel Pie [41]
Precook the juicy, tart blackberry filling before pouring it in the crust. The streusel topping becomes a crunchy sugar-pecan crown.
Raspberry Pie [45]
Blend just four ingredients, including either fresh or frozen raspberries, for this super-easy two-crust pie. The recipe comes from The Clarmont restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.
Raspberry Pie [46]
Summer's Best Peach Pie [49]
Just-picked fruit will taste best in this pie, but you can use frozen peach slices if needed.
Rhubarb Pie [53]
On the annual Iowa Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), pie is king, and rhubarb reigns supreme. Orange peel and cinnamon flavor the soft rhubarb filling in this recipe inspired by RAGBRAI food vendors that populate the route.
Rhubarb Pie [54]
Spiced Cherry Pie [57]
The cherry filling in this pie gets a tasty boost from cinnamon and allspice. We tested this with refrigerated piecrust, but you can use your own homemade piecrust, if you like.
Spiced Cherry Pie [58]
Finnish Blueberry Pie [61]
This berry pie proves that there's beauty in simplicity. The piecrust is wrapped around a three-ingredient filling that includes fine dry breadcrumbs. You don't even need a pie plate to make this juicy treat.
Peach Streusel Pie [65]
A buttery topping, with a hint of cinnamon, crowns this spectacular dessert.
Peach Streusel Pie [66]
Cherry Berry Berry Pie [69]
Red raspberries and blueberries join ruby-red cherries in Cherry Berry Berry Pie, a favorite from Sweetielicious Bakery Cafe in DeWitt, Michigan (just north of Lansing). The trio yields a dark, rich filling crowned with a crunchy streusel topping.
Berry Apple Fantasy Pie [73]
This golden, two-crust creation oozes with apples and blackberries. The recipe, from Elsah Landing Restaurant in Grafton, Illinois, was pictured on a cover of Midwest Living®.
A Peach of a Raspberry Cobbler [77]
A flaky, woven crust tops a combination raspberry-peach filling in this juicy dessert. You can substitute blackberries or blueberries for the raspberries, if you like.
Summer Lime Breeze Pie [81]
A combination of lime flavors (lime curd, lime peel and lime juice) plus a sweet-and-salty crust using pretzels gives this pie a perfect tang.
Gooseberry Pie [85]
The blueberry-size green gooseberries in this recipe come from a spiny bush that grows in the Ozarks. At Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, the sweet-tart berries are mixed with sugar and tucked into a two-crust pie.
Gooseberry Pie [86]
Rhubarb Custard Pie [89]
Embellish this classic spring and summer dessert by making leaf cutouts from the pastry scraps. Then, brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar.
Rhubarb Custard Pie [90]
Cherry-Almond Pie [93]
Chopped almonds and a dash of Amaretto or almond extract give a fresh twist on a classic dessert.
Cherry-Almond Pie [94]
Blueberry Custard Pie [97]
An Elkhart, Indiana, reader helped create this tempting layered pie. Known as a fruit-growing region, northern Indiana supplied a banner blueberry crop one year. That inspired the reader to create this colorful, meringue-crowned pie.
Peach-Brown Butter Tart [101]
A crusty sugar-almond streusel tops this custard-peach pie. If you like, you can make a mixed-berry pie by substituting 3 to 4 cups blackberries, raspberries and blueberries for the 2 cups of peaches.
Peach-Brown Butter Tart [102]
Michigan Tart Cherry Pie [105]
This pie from Achatz Handmade Pie Company in Chesterfield, Michigan (north of Detroit), seems basic only until you try it. Our taste panel praised how the cherryness didn't hide behind other flavors. It even draws an accent from the lemon juice's hint of tartness. A sprinkling of sugar bakes onto the top crust for a sweet crunch.
Michigan Tart Cherry Pie [106]