I find that most of my baking happens late at night, a bit like Mickey in In the Night Kitchen (without the nudity and flying…). Late-night breads, cakes & pies just seem all that more delicious when you are so tired that you can barely keep your eyes open, and are staying awake solely for a small taste of your slavings… Few things are better than warm pie with ice cream, and at this time of year, berries are so ripe that they are practically bursting out of their little green containers. This late-night triple berry pie was more than worth the lost sleep.

For the crust you will need (I used Smitten Kitchen’s Pie Crust 102 recipe):

2 1/2 cups of AP flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 sticks VERY COLD butter
1/2 cup to 1 cup VERY COLD water

Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt — I did this in a bowl, but you can also use a food processor. Then add the butter. If you have a pastry cutter, use that, I used a fork to mash the butter into the flour mixture.

When the butter/flour mixture’s largest clumps are the size of peas, pour in 1/2 cup of the cold water (I melted some ice in mine), and start working the dough together with a rubber spatula. Add more water as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you are able to form the dough into a manageable mass. Divide it equally in two parts, form each into a thick disk, wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or two.

Next for the filling!

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
3 pints of berries (I used blackberries, blueberries & raspberries)
Juice from 1 lemon
2 tbsp butter

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the berries and toss gently together until the berries are lightly coated.

Now it is time to assemble!

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Roll out one of your dough disks until it is 11-12″ in diameter. Gently place it in the bottom of a 9 or 10″ pie pan. Make sure to not stretch the dough to fit or it will contract in the oven!

Pour the berries into the pan, then drizzle with lemon juice and top with small pieces of butter.

Now for the top crust!

Roll out your second disk of dough, you can either place that directly on top of the pie, making a few slits in the top for air to escape, OR attempt this fun lattice top!

Use some egg wash if the dough isn’t sticking together well, you can also egg wash the top of the pie so it browns nicely.

Put the pie in the oven and set a timer for 45 minutes. Check the pie after about 25 minutes — if it looks like the edges of the crust are burning you can put some aluminum foil around them.

When the crust is nicely golden brown the pie is done! Let it cool until room temperature (or for at least 10 minutes…)

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

MAN this pie is good, perfectly tart with a buttery crust. I bet it will be even better cold for breakfast.