One day Katie and her boyfriend Travis went to pick
{ Huckleberries }
♥
♥
Up the side of the mountain they hiked with their pails.
Katie picked three huckleberries and put them in her pail.
“kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk”
Along they went until they had picked just enough
{ Huckleberries }
for two mouths pies,
one for them
and one for us.
♥
They needed a little help along the way because they weren’t sure what a
{ Huckleberry }
even looked look.
But they sure could find their way around a mountain,
being such awesome snowboarders and all.
Now, they can’t tell you where they found the
{ Hucklesberries }
that’s top-secret.
“kerplink kerplank kerplunk”
♥
Growing up in Southern Alberta has its perks…
{ Huckleberries }
are rarer than a sunny day in spring in most parts.
They’re not “domesticated” so you can’t buy them, fresh or frozen, anywhere!
If you’re lucky,
{ Huckleberry Pies }
are sometimes sold in secret,
cash and pies change hands with furtive over-the-shoulder glances
to make sure no one’s watching.
♥
if you’re lucky enough to pick some of your own
{ Huckleberries }
after that first handful mouthful
you might just want to cry
they’re that good.
I helped Katie make her first pie.
We hustled up our own perfect recipe,
we added a smidgen of this and a smidgen of that, and we think we got it
just right.
Then I tasted my first ever slice of
{ Huckleberry Pie }
“Oh, my gosh, this had to be the best darn pie ever!”I exclaimed,
with eyes saucered in delight.
Then it slowly dawned on me, that those
sweet
{ Huckleberries }
can only be found once a year,
in the wild,
high up on the steep side of a mountain where bears like to roam…
“I may never get the chance to taste this pie again!” I wailed.
“kerplink kerplank kerplunk”
“Oh, Mom,” Katie admonished, “Don’t you know, good things are worth waiting for?!”
♥
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 lb lard, cold from the fridge
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ice water
- 4 cups wild huckleberries, rinsed and patted dry
- 2/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp instant (Minit) tapioca powder
- 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
- heavy whipping cream
- coarse sugar
- Whisk together flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- In a one cup measuring cup, whisk the egg and then whisk in the vinegar. Add the ice water until you have one cup.
- Using a knife, cut the lard into large one inch cubes. Then, using a pasty cutter, cut the lard into the flour mixture until you have pieces that look like oatmeal and larger pieces as well.
- Quickly stir in some of the liquid using a fork. Gradually stir in additional liquid, stirring each time. Add only enough for the dough to start coming together. You’ll know you have enough when you can press with your hands and the dough forms a ball in the bowl.
- Keeping the dough in the bowl. Press the dough into a ball. Cut into four large pieces for deep-dish pans or six pieces if you have regular pie pans. Flatten each dough ball into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the dough while you make the filling.
- After you’ve made the filling, remove two of your pie disks (the remaining two can be frozen for use later) and lightly flour both your countertop and your rolling-pin. Roll out one disk of the pastry until it is a circle larger than the bottom of your pan and sides. Make sure to lift and dust under the dough as you roll out. Repeatedly dust your rolling-pin as well so that the dough doesn’t stick to the counter. Lightly roll the dough around your rolling pan and lay it in your pie pan.
- Tuck under extra dough around the top edges and flute. We left the sides of the crust high to allow for any shrinking.
- Once the filling is made, preheat the oven to 450°F. (Yes, 450°F, even with a convection oven.) Pour the filling into the raw pie shell. Roll out another disk of dough as above. Using a ruler or straight edge and knife, cut rectangles for your lattice top. Lay across in a weaving pattern. If a piece breaks, just tuck the end under the other piece and keep going, no one will know once it bakes.
- We had one inch thick pieces, but smaller ones would be more intricate. You can also buy a special pie crust cutting tool for making fancier lattice scalloped edges. Once the top has been laid across, pinch the edges to the sides of the crust. Put the pie in the oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce the oven to 350º F, wrap the edges of the crust with foil to avoid over-browning and bake for an additional 25 minutes. We baked ours for a full 10 minutes longer. You’ll know the pie is set when the filling is fully bubbling between the lattice top.
- Remove and set on a wire rack to completely cool before trying to slice.. or you’ll have a runny pie.
- Place washed and dried berries in a large bowl. Sprinkle with sugars and tapioca powder and gently stir in. Sprinkle over lemon juice, stir in and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Spoon filling into the unbaked pie shell, top with lattice. Lightly brush the lattice portion of the crush and liberally sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake as written above.
Beautiful pie!
Thanks!
My daughter lives in Calgary. I will definately tell her to try this pie.
Thanks for sharing!
Very cool!! She needs to head south to Lethbridge/Waterton area to find the huckleberries:)
Could I sub blueberries for the huckles? I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a huckleberry before. Do they taste anything like a blueberry? You do make the best looking (and I bet tasting) pies.
I think you could.. you’d probably need to adjust the sugar for the sweetness of the berries, huckleberries are a bit more sour than sweet. I’d google it as well:D
Smidge you make the prettiest of pies! Sadly I have never eaten a huckleberry before – will add it to my ever growing list.
🙂 Mandy
This was the best crust ever, maybe it’s easier when there’s two of you to decide when the butter is cut in enough:D I hadn’t tasted one before, I can’t believe it took me this long.. I love them!
Beautiful pie and crust! And wonderful prose.
Thanks so much!
Oh I wish I could find huckleberries here! Tho just being able to hand pick your own fruit and hurry home with a bushel filled to make your own pie is such a wonderful experience and a memory to always keep having shared it with your daughter. Those are the times to cherish!
She was so excited to tell me about her experience.. she brought these home after a wonderful weekend away!
I have always wanted to try huckleberries! This looks so good. I’m sure it was more than worth the wait. 🙂
I hope to somehow get another bunch this year, but unless I make the trek, I doubt I will!
Looks “disappearingly” good *smile – they had cherries at the supermarket today at a day price at 150SEK = 22.24 CAD per kilo … so I have to wait until next year .. for that goat cheese and sweet cherry relish … Your whole post is eye candy for me.
Woah.. that’s soo expensive!! Where were they shipped from?? These huckleberries were free for the picking:D
I know – as kids we picked and grandma did squash – sour sour sour … I don’t have a clue where the cherries came from … didn’t say – far too expensive to do relish on.
What a gorgeous pie! This is the first year we didn’t make it up to the mountains to pick Huckleberries. Luckily, I can buy handpicked ones by the bagful at the Farmer’s Markets. (For a very lofty price!) But you know, it just isn’t the same if you or someone in the family hasn’t picked them!
Love the lattice top! 🙂
Wow!! That’s really something.. I’d pay the price, any price, if I found them at the market here. It’s so labor intensive, I’m not surprised they’d be expensive. But by the bagful.. that’s really incredible. I know Idaho has the Huckleberry as its State Flower.. so you must live at the “epicenter” where all the bushes grow in abundance! Lucky you!! We giggled at the top, after blogging photos we realized it should have had more and narrower strips, but.. it all tastes the same:D
We live on the Washington and Idaho border. We can pick Huckleberries less than 40 minutes away! But you’re right, the picking is definitely labor intensive and I’m never willing to venture far because of the bears. I think I paid $35 or maybe $45 for a gallon ziplock bag full. Well worth it in my mind! I then take them home, spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then store them in the freezer in snack size freezer bags for pancakes, etc. I thought your pie strips looked just fine! 🙂
Smidge, I’m so happy to be on your site this afternoon. I have lots of catching up to, but loved starting with today’s post. I’ve never tasted a huckleberry before, but I imagine in a pie they must be pretty special. Is that an Emile Henry pie plate in your photo?
A lovely post…thank you!
Allison
I’m glad you’re here too.. I’m never going to catch up on all my reading, which distresses me because I know I’m missing out on so much excellence in writing, photography and recipes. But I keep trying! Yes.. that’s an Emile.. it was a bit too deep dish for 4 cups of berries.. but it gave us lots of crust to eat:)
Barb, your pie looks delectable! I never had huckleberries before, would like to try some day…
You’d love them. There are different types but these had no or tiny seeds. So lovely raw and just picked.
Wha?! Huckleberries are real?? Lol. The pie looks delicious, Smidge, and totally loved the playful poem that went with it 🙂 ~Ruth
Hahaha.. I know,eh? Who knew! Thanks so much Ruth xoxo
As usual, a lovely post with a fabulous looking recipe!
Thanks, Terri!
What a special treat! I can only imagine what they taste like, but your pastry and pie look so, so very tempting and light, I’m sure I would have had an extra portion 🙂
I would too.. but my daughter kept slapping my hand away, lol!
What fun, Smidge! Huckleberries are my husband’s very favorite. They grow in the mountains here in Oregon, too, where he grew up skiing. Was your kerplunk-ing a play on that sweet old book “Blueberries for Sal?” Again, another fun connection — my hub’s favorite childhood story and a fave around our house now, too. This pie looks divine!
Finally!! I was living in fear that Blueberries for Sal had lost its popularity.. relegated to books of yesteryear. I’m thrilled to bits you recognized the pattern!!! I used it because it was Katie’s favorite book when she was a little girl in Kindergarten. She would have been just like Sal! xoxo
That looks delicious – please save me a slice, I’ve never had huckleberries.
There was half a pie.. yesterday. We’ve been rationed by our daughter, lol!
I’ve led such a deprived life! Never have I seen, let alone tasted, a huckleberry. Your delicious-looking pie has me contemplating making a trip to the Great North in search of the berries. Max likes to steal tomatoes. How hard could it be to train him to search for huckleberries? And who knows? We just might end up in your neck of the woods. Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to send an email once we’ve turned onto your street.
Hahaha.. no one should be so deprived! I hear April has an abundance where she lives too.. maybe we should all head over to see her first!! They’re even at her market!!
It looks absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks.. it was a ton of fun!
I’ve never messed around with Huckleberries before but I’m tempted now. 🙂
Oh.. just picking them and eating them while standing on a mountain would be tempting enough, wouldn’t it?
The first challenge is finding the bush before the bear…it may be obvious, but this requires that you not only be smarter than the average bear, but smarter than the smartest. Second challenge, should you fail the first, outrun the bear! Third challenge, to make a pie as beautiful as Smidge, with a buttery crust that crumbles, the most delicate of berries that stain your lips, and sugar crystals that sparkle like diamonds in the sun. For this you (and most of all, i) will need her help. so we’ve organized a party of sorts…converging, from our various directions, at her house tomorrow morning, as close to dawn as you can make it. Bring your own pail (kerplink) and running shoes. Smidge doesn’t know a thing about this yet, so let’s keep it a surprise. She’ll be so excited to see us all!
Oh.. be still my beating heart, Booboo.. bring your picnic baskets along.. filled to overflowing with baguettes and all of your scrumpity cooking and baking.. we’ll picnic and munch until the sun sets. I don’t know that I could “run” to keep up with all of you, but I’d hike anywhere! And I love surprises!! We’d have to drag Katie and Travis along and hold them hostage until they show us the patch for picking, but with all of your lovely treats.. I know that will be the easy part!
What a stunning huckleberry pie my friend – i wish I would eat it right off my screen 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
*sigh… me too:D
I feel like I’ve been missing out. I’ve never eaten a huckleberry. How wonderful to source your own berries, come home and create your own recipe and end up with something so stunning. I’m just loving the look of this xx
Well.. my daughter was the lucky one for certain, she had a sample of both pies (Trav’s mom made a yummy one in Lethbridge)! Next time.. I’m tagging along for the picking!! xx
If I ever get hold of a punnet of wild huckleberries, Smidge – why, I shall use your recipe to help me make a pie 🙂
I love that word.. “punnet” mmmm, is it normal to find words “delicious” too, lol?!
Usually. I often hear the word in conjunction with raspberries and strawberries, and I have long since lost the ability to distinguish between the words and the fruit…
So cool! I’ve never seen a huckleberry before, let alone wild picked ones! What a scrumptious looking pie, Smidge!
I think I’d only heard of them in the skipping rhyme.. They’re heavenly! Thanks Celia!
Bilberries of some strange American kind? No matter- I’m coming round in the next 5 minutes so keep some cream to go on mine please, Smidge.
Perhaps?? I’ve never heard of Bilberries.. but I’ve never met a berry I didn’t like:D
Jealous as to how perfect your lattice crust looks!
You are so so lucky. We have a few huckleberry hiding places we never divulge.
That’s the most beautiful pie I’ve ever seen! Oh boy, that looks good Smidge. The pictures and the story that goes with that pie are priceless 🙂 I learned something new today…huckleberries are such cute little things!
In other news, I really want to move to Canada….you have all the cool things 🙂
A friend from Nelson was just posting on FB about eating Huckleberries she had picked in the mountains….. And I was thinking you don’t hear about huckleberries everyday, now do you? Guess I was wrong! I can see why the location of those berries is top secret — there’s gold in those hills! Beautiful post!
Oh my gosh, two pies-worth of huckleberries is a LOT of huckleberries!! I’ve only ever managed to pick a few handfuls, definitely not enough for a pie (the berries I’ve encountered are more red than purple – maybe coastal versus prairie huckleberries?)… I’m pretty jealous that you got to make a pie with them and then eat it! And such a beautiful pie at that 🙂
Aw! Love Blueberries for Sal I mean Huckleberries for Smidge. 🙂 What a lovely story and happy ending. Yum. 🙂
Oh yum! That looks so exciting – I’ve never even heard of huckleberries before, how lovely and secretive to have a berry you can’t even buy frozen. And the colours… sigh, I wish.
This is right up my street and I can just taste it now! Makes me want to get out and pick those berries. Wonderful stuff and thank you.
Haven’t tasted huckleberries because we don’t get them around here so I’ll just have to feast my eyes on these gorgeous photos 🙂
What a lovely flaky pastry. I would love to make this with some fresh wild blueberries as I haven’t seen huckleberries in our markets here.
Of course.. when my daughter made the crust it was much flakier than when I made it, lol! I’ve read the “epicenter” for huckleberries is Idaho?
Potato central.
Oh, Smidge… that looks so good and sweet and tart… yum. It’s good to be back!
It’s so great to have you back, frugal!!
It’s great to be back 😀
The pie looks gorgeous. I have never heard of huckleberries but how lovely to find a secret supply of them growing in the wild.
I have not had huckleberry pie since I lived at home. I love the sweet and tart together. I can’t believe with the kids in your house you were able to get a full shot of the pie without a piece missing first. (Did you get a lock on the door for the kitchen?) lol. Take care, BAM
Look at that beautiful lattice crust! This pie looks almost too pretty to eat! I wish I had a piece right now! 😉
How beautiful! We don’t have huckleberries in California, or at least I should say I’m not aware of them. My son brought back some huckleberry jam from a trip into Montana, so I think it must be a berry requiring a colder climate. I will tell you though, that’s it’s quite late at night and this recipe has activated my sweet tooth! Debra
Oh gosh, that looks so good!! 🙂
WOW! Seems great. I wished to taske now 🙂 Thank you dear Barbara, have a nice weekend, love, nia
I am in love with this pie!
so deep and full of yummy berries. it’s still berry season over here so this is a great inspiration. love the light and rustic looking crust too. the photography is just amazing and, yes, you know how to rhyme, girl!
xox
Yum! Can I come hang out in your kitchen?
Oh Smidge! I want that pie so so bad! We don’t get huckleberries here but lots of blueberries. I just posted on my berry picking adventure about two days back and now I long for these berries you got here. I love your writing. I do.
I just love the color of the huckleberries after baking..such a beautiful shade
this is indeed a dessert worth waiting for
SMIDGE!!! Waving to you way up there. it is me Celi., at the bottom of the comments page. i have planted TWO huckleberries in my garden, they say the bees love them! So in about ten years i can make this PIE!!! yay.. c
c!!!! No way!!! I am beyond excited, I think if you plant them they will come!! At least I will! You must have the perfect climate for them? I think you should let them take over your farm and you could be the first one to sell huckleberries to the planet:D Lucky farmy!! Lucky bees!!
This pie looks divine, and I love the Blueberries for Sal reference! That was one of my favorite books as a kid, and when I moved to Japan to teach English to kids, I made sure to bring a copy of it along to read with some of my students! 🙂
I felt so lucky to have been given a large bag of huckleberries from friends who have huckleberry bushes not far from their home. :). I too have been thinking once my bag of berries is gone, not sure when I will get more. Hahaha! We love huckleberries and I have to say this pie looks so good I’m using the rest of my berries to make one.
Oh.. I hope you do, I’d love to see your pie:D
Very nice work on that lattice top. Now where can I find huckleberries here in NZ
Hmmm.. do you have anything like a Bilberry or Whortleberry.. it seem a Huckleberry can go by other names? Or you could fly to Canada for holidays:D
Smidge, my mother is ALL OVER this recipe. You should see her excitement. She can’t wait to make this before Thanksgiving :). Thanks for the wonderful recipe as always 🙂
I guess I will just have to find some huckleberries just so I can make this pie. Your pics are stunning!!
I’ve never heard of huckleberries but guess that’s what makes that pie so so so special.
Uhmmmm……Yummm! 🙂
Subhan Zein
I’ve never tasted a huckleberry pie, but I sure would like to — this one would do just fine!
That is one perfectly gorgeous pie! Beautiful job!
I believe I made this pie last year and used 3 cups huckleberries an one cup blueberries. The family loves it!! Today I’m asking if I can use corn starch instead of tapioca powder? I believe I have before its just been so long…
Thank you in advance Teshara
I’m so glad you love it!! I’m pretty sure you can use cornstarch, I saw a recipe (Allrecipes??) that uses the same cups of berries with 3 tbsp cornstarch.. maybe google to be certain. But my big question.. where did you find huckleberries???!!! Lucky girl!!
Hi. Your huckleberry pie looks beautiful! Lots of crust to enjoy. What do you suggest is the proportion of tapioca to frozen hucks?
Thank you.
Meri
Hi Meri, the recipe is only written as I made it. I’m not great at baking by proportion, so literally there were four cups of huckleberries to 3 tbsp minit instant tapioca powder. Sorry if this doesn’t help?