Grape Pie
I will be the first to admit that I do not make nearly as many desserts for my kids. I don’t know why, but I probably lean on towards the fact that I personally do not need, nor like too many desserts. Selfish, I know. I often think of making sweets for them though. In the past, I was on an ice cream making routine, as well as making a few muffins, but then I just stopped. It was not too long ago, however, when I was at the store and noticed some concord grapes. For one, I never see concord grapes at the store, and two, they reminded me of my childhood.
See, when I used to have sleepover’s at my friend Dave’s house, we would navigate through his backyard, or should I say several backyards, until we were in the very long backyard of one man’s house. It was almost as though we were in a completely other subdivision. This backyard was huge, and one thing that drew us to this backyard was the grapes. Yes, this farmer was growing concord grapes. I remember us sneaking up to those vines and grabbing grapes. Biting into them led to this sourness, and that jelly like texture was addicting. We basically ate these grapes until the farmer noticed us from the top of his house, yelled at us, waved his shotgun, and began taking shots with buckshot. With that said, that was probably my last experience eating concord grapes until recently.
When I brought the grapes home, I had that same feeling as I did when I was with Dave in the backyard of the farmer’s house. They still had the flavor and texture that I remembered and I could not wait for my kids to try them. Well, let’s just say that they were not as thrilled to eat them. My daughter, yes, but the boys, no. I was left with a large bowl of these concord grapes, and with that said, there was only one thing to do. Make pie.
I know what you might be thinking. Grape pie!? Yes, and trust me, it was some of the best pie we have had.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 2 shells of pre-made pie crust
- 2 cups of pitted concord grapes, skins removed but saved
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of cornstarch
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
Begin by removing the skins from the grapes. This is pretty simple as you just give a light squeeze and the flesh of the grape is exposed. Use a pairing knife, or whatever you prefer to get the seeds out of the grape. You’ll figure it out after a couple of grapes. Just make sure you reserve as much of the juice and flesh as possible. This process will take you about 30 minutes. Discard the seeds. Set the skins in a bowl as we will use them in a bit.
Add the grapes and juice to a sauce pan, along with the sugar, salt, skins, and lemon juice. Cook this on a medium-low heat for about 25 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Once cooked, remove it from the stove and set it aside to let it cool.
During this time cook one of the pie crusts, according to direction. Most likely a 400 degree oven for about 9 minutes. Once cooked, set it aside and let it cool.
Once the grape filling has cooled, whisk in the flour and cornstarch until you have a smooth consistency. Adding the flour and cornstarch will thicken the pie, in case you were interested.
Pour the mixture into the precooked pie shell. Place two tablespoons of butter onto the pie filling. Top with the uncooked pie crust.  If it doesn’t come out that easily, don’t worry about it. You can see that I was not too concerned. Make a few knife slits in the middle, and then sprinkle the top with sugar.
Place the pie onto a baking sheet and place in a 400 degree preheated oven. Cook this for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook another 30 minutes.
Remove the pie from the oven, and let it come to room temperature before slicing.
This pie completely demystifies what you would think of as a grape pie. At first bite, both my daughter and I were kind of giggling, and as I was telling her of the time when I was a kid eating those sour grapes with jelly-like texture, we were both just blown away by how delicious it was. I served the pie with some vanilla ice cream. Let’s just say, make this. It’s pretty darn delicious.
Grape Pie
Ingredients
- 2 shells of pre-made pie crust
- 2 cups of pitted concord grapes skins removed but saved
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of cornstarch
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Begin by removing the skins from the grapes. This is pretty simple as you just give a light squeeze and the flesh of the grape is exposed. Use a pairing knife, or whatever you prefer to get the seeds out of the grape. You'll figure it out after a couple of grapes. Just make sure you reserve as much of the juice and flesh as possible. This process will take you about 30 minutes. Discard the seeds. Set the skins in a bowl as we will use them in a bit.
- Add the grapes and juice to a sauce pan, along with the sugar, salt, skins, and lemon juice. Cook this on a medium-low heat for about 25 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Once cooked, remove it from the stove and set it aside to let it cool.
- During this time cook one of the pie crusts, according to direction. Most likely a 400 degree oven for about 9 minutes. Once cooked, set it aside and let it cool.
- Once the grape filling has cooled, whisk in the flour and cornstarch until you have a smooth consistency. Adding the flour and cornstarch will thicken the pie, in case you were interested.
- Pour the mixture into the precooked pie shell. Place two tablespoons of butter onto the pie filling. Top with the uncooked pie crust. If it doesn't come out that easily, don't worry about it. You can see that I was not too concerned. Make a few knife slits in the middle, and then sprinkle the top with sugar.
- Place the pie onto a baking sheet and place in a 400 degree preheated oven. Cook this for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook another 30 minutes.
- Remove the pie from the oven, and let it come to room temperature before slicing.
