In the spirit of Independence Day I decided to make some yummy desserts. These are delicious Patriotic Berry Palm Piettes. They’re basically miniature star-shaped pies that fit in your hand. When we chow down on them this evening at our Independence Day cookout, I’ll be adding a dollop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup…uhhh…yum!

So, this was my first adventure in anything “pie” and I actually had a really fun time doing it. So…let’s get started.

First thing’s first…Ingredients & Supplies:

For the dough you’ll need:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs granulated sugar
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup of cold vegetable shortening
• 8 tbs cold water
• Medium mixing bowl
• Electric mixer with dough attachments
• Wax paper
• Rolling pin
• Star-shaped cookie cutter (2-3 inches wide)

For the filling you’ll need:

• 6 oz blueberries
• 6 oz raspberries
• 6-10 oz strawberries (about 1/2 a large container)
• 2 small or 1 large lemon (for zest)
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Medium mixing bowl

To finish the piettes:

• A fork to join/close the pie crusts
• A knife to poke vent slits at the top of each
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tbs granulated sugar
• 1/2 tbs ground cinnamon
• honey

Now…to create the piettes!

Step 1: Make the dough

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a medium-large mixing bowl. Use a fork or spoon to mix them together. Next, cut the stick of butter into fourths and place in bowl, and add the vegetable shortening. Use the electric mixer with the dough attachments to mix these together until it looks like rough, pea-sized globs. You may need to use a fork every now and then while mixing to break up larger globs of butter and shortening so it mixes in better. Next, add the 6-8 (I used 8) tablespoons of water, and mix until it looks like a good mix of dough.

Make sure you have your wax paper ready, pick up the dough and form into a nice ball-shape on the wax paper. Divide the dough in half by cutting it down the middle- I just used a butter knife to do so. Shape each half into a 1/2 inch-deep disk. Place these on a plate- on top of each other divided by wax paper, cover with cellophane, and place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

Step 2: Make the Filling

While the dough is chilling in the fridge, rinse your berries and slice the strawberries. Make sure to look out for any damaged or bad fruit before mixing it in, you don’t want to poison any of your tasters later. Once you’ve done that, place these in a medium mixing bowl and add the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt, and mix together well. Place this in the fridge to chill, as well, until the dough and crusts are ready. (By the time I finished this step, I had less than 20 minutes before the dough would be ready, so I placed my berry mixture in the freezer so it could chill faster).

Step 3: Cut the crusts

Preheat your oven to 375F. Have a large flat workspace ready and lightly flour it so the dough doesn’t stick. Remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator, lay it out and roll it flat until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Use the cookie cutter to cut out star-shapes and line them on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Repeat this process until you have used up all of the 1st disk of dough. Make sure you have an even number of stars because 1/2 of them will be the bottom of the piettes and the others will be the tops.

Step 4: Assemble the piettes

Remove the chilling piette filling from the fridge/freezer. Place a spoonful of the filling in the center of the crusts that are reserved to be the pie bottoms. Place the other half of the piette crusts on top of each star. Use your finger to poke down the five points of each star and in the corners between the points. Then use a fork to press the edges together. Try to smooth out and close any tears in the crust to prevent extra juices from escaping while they bake. In a small bowl, break and whisk an egg. Brush each of the sealed piettes with the egg. Sprinkle each with the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and add a dollop of honey to the top of each. Last, use a knife to poke 2 “vent” slits at the top of each piette…and they’re ready to bake!

Step 5: Bake

Bake until the berries are bubbling and the crusts are lightly browned on top. This should take between 20 and 25 minutes. Make sure to watch them because they may be done before the 25 minute mark, and you don’t want them to over-bake.

Step 6: Serve and Enjoy!

I plan on serving mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup on top! Uh…yum!

Here is where I got the original recipe, but I made a few changes to my own. And PS- come Fall, be on the lookout for this recipe except with pear filling!