Junkberry Pie
Updated Oct. 30, 2024
- Total Time
- 5½ hours
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 4 hours’ cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 1½cups frozen peaches
- 1cup frozen blackberries
- 1cup frozen blueberries
- 1cup frozen strawberries
- ½cup frozen raspberries
- ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
- 6tablespoons/45 grams all-purpose flour
- 1¼cups/250 grams granulated sugar
- 1cup/120 grams all-purpose flour
- 1cup/228 grams sour cream
- ¼teaspoon salt
- 1(9-inch) single pie crust
- 1large egg, beaten
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling
For the Filling
For the Topping
For Assembly
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium pot, combine apple, peaches, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, sugar and flour over medium heat. (Do not thaw the peaches or berries.) Bring to a boil, stirring often. The raspberries will start to break down, but the rest of the fruit will remain intact; this whole process takes 12 to 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and cool slightly.
- Step 2
Adjust a rack to the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Make the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, sour cream and salt until thoroughly combined. This will take a few minutes and will look like a thick paste.
- Step 3
On a lightly floured surface, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the pie crust to a 13-inch round and fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Tuck and pinch the overhang so that the crust rests on the top edge of the pie plate, then crimp. When the oven has come to temperature, pour the slightly cooled fruit mixture into the crust. Dollop the topping over the fruit and smooth it all the way to the edges of the crust.
- Step 4
Brush the edges of the crust with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the crust and the topping with coarse sugar.
- Step 5
The pie plate will be very full; place it on the prepared baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake until the topping is firm and the crust is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool for at least 4 hours, then slice and serve.
Private Notes
Comments
@Kathryn Major —At first, I also thought the photo and text were mismatched. But after re-reading the recipe and zooming in on the photo, I think they are correct. It is indeed a single- crust pie but the topping (apparently) bakes in such a way to mimic a top crust.
A friend of mine who made the pie with me had a brilliant idea — to pour the (room-temperature) sour cream topping into a makeshift piping bag (a gallon sized ziploc bag with a snipped corner) and to pipe the topping on top of the filling! She started at the outer edge and piped the topping onto the pie in a spiral till the center was covered. This eliminated any risk of forcing the filling out over the edges of the pie. No dolloping and smoothing necessary! So easy and seamless!
@Kathryn Major I made this and mine looked exactly like the photo.
I had the opposite problem with the sour cream crust- my crust was easily spreadable. However, the topping stayed wet in the middle of the pie even after cooki ng it for an additional hour! My daughter asked if the pie had a custard topping:(definitely not the expected or desired outcome.The filling was good so I will make this pie again but use cutouts of pie dough for the topping instead.
My husband made this pie and it was delicious. He would never post a comment here but after watching him make it, I feel obligated to share his experience with the recipe. Based on the comments of others who ventured to bake this junkyard pie, he decided to use the ziplock bag technique to add the sour cream crust to the top of the mound of gooey cooked fruit and it’s hard to imagine how it would work without it. It did take 75 mins and several toothpick tests to make sure the top crust was fully cooked. The frozen fruit and fresh tart Granny Smith apples were a perfect combo. By the time the pie was fully baked, the juices of the bright blue and red berries were bursting through the crust. He entered this pie in our neighborhood 3.14 pie contest and decided to name it Lava Pie since it looked more like a volcano exploded rather than a junkyard. It was a crowd pleaser and took first place in the fruit pie category.
This is delicious! My 6 year old loved it too. I followed others’ recs and cut the sugar by about 1/8 cup with the fruit and by about 20% in the topping. It is still plenty sweet. Also piped on the topping and found that very easy to do. I baked for 60 minutes. The filling is reminiscent of a Fruit Roll Up… no complaints here!