Rustic Raspberry Cakey Pie

I was so excited about this pie. It was not too sweet, not too tart. It had a great texture. It was relatively simple to make, especially for being a pie. And I kind of thought that my modifications to the recipe on which it was based (which called this dessert a cake rather than a pie) were substantial enough to make it a Cake and Edith Original. But then, literally the day after I made it, an uncannily similar pie recipe was posted at Smitten Kitchen (where the dessert was called a tart rather than a pie).

So the only thing original about my creation, evidently, is that I consider it a pie. It involved two layers of crust, a fruit filling, and it lived in a pie dish before it was devoured. Hence, pie.

I fancy myself quite fancy for making a homemade pie.

Having said that, the crust isn't flakey or buttery like a regular pie crust. It's softer and more cake-like than the typical old-fashioned pie crust, plus I included coarsely ground cornmeal in my experiment, which made it a little crunchier than the usual. That's why I'm calling it a cakey pie.

Also, like cake, it goes v. well with vanilla ice cream.

Rustic Raspberry Cakey Pie

Adapted (loosely) from Darina Allen via New York Times via The Wednesday Chef

Yield: 8-10 servings

For crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup stoneground cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

For filling

2 cups fresh or frozen, thawed raspberries

1/4 cup sugar (or more, up to 1 cup, if you want a sweeter pie)

To finish

1 egg

1 teaspoon water

Cinnamon-sugar, for dusting (about 5 teaspoons sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch pie plate with butter or spray.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, 3 tablespoons sugar, and baking soda. With fingers, rub in butter until mixture is sandy. Add the egg and stir to incorporate. Add the buttermilk and stir until all ingredients are well combined. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until dough comes together. Form into two balls and roll each piece, using a floured rolling pin, to fit a 9-inch pie plate. (The dough will be pretty sticky, but not unmanageable.) Line the bottom of your greased pie plate with one of the rounds. Pinch together any tears or patch up holes - it's supposed to be rustic!

Evenly distribute the raspberries over the bottom layer of pie dough. Sprinkle at least 1/4 cup of sugar over the raspberries. Place the second sheet of dough on top and pinch the edges together. (If you'd like, use a fork to do this, like in the picture above.)

Beat remaining egg with 1 teaspoon water and brush it on dough. Generously dust with cinnamon sugar.

Place the baking dish in the oven and bake until crust is golden, about an hour. For even browning, rotate the pie 180 degrees after a half hour. The Wednesday Chef says to cover the cake with a piece of aluminum foil if the crust browns too soon, but I did not encounter that problem.

Serve warm, with whipped cream or ice cream. Great for dessert, and certainly not bad for breakfast.