I first made this pie in the heat of a St. Louis summer, many years ago. It was one of my early forays into baking with whole grains, and it was gobbled up in seconds by my hungry (college boys are always hungry) neighbors. It’s been years since I left that tiny St. Louis apartment, but I decided that this pie was just the thing for the Dedham Square Country Store’s Pie Contest.
Most of the entries were double crust pies – peach, blueberry, apple. Beautiful, flaky pies with rich, sweet fruit filling, perfect with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. But I think crumble adds such fun texture to pie, and I love mixing my dessert genres. There was one other crumble topped pie, an abundant apple creation. Anyway, I figured (and I was right) that nobody else would be bringing a Cherry Berry Crumble Pie with a whole wheat crust.
Cherry Berry Crumble Pie is not too sweet, with a lovely earthiness from the honey. The key here is to use good, flavorful honey. I love the local honey from Lemon Thyme Farm that I buy at the Dedham Square Country Store. It’s amazingly floral and rich. It pairs so well with the nuttiness of the whole wheat crust, and the salty-sweet crumble topping. The crumble, though, is my favorite part since the oats make me feel less guilty eating pie for breakfast. It’s just as good with a dollop of greek yogurt as with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Cherry Berry Crumble Pie
Crust
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut in pieces
2 tablespoons cold water
Filling
1 1/2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and quartered
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Crumble Topping
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup finely chopped toasted almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the pie crust, pulse the flours and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse just a few times until mealy. Add in the water slowly, pulsing just until the dough holds together (you may need an extra bit of water). Turn the dough out and press into a ball. Chill the dough for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the cherries, blueberries, cranberries, honey, tablespoon of flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all of the crumble ingredients, using your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until well combined.
Roll out the crust on a floured surface and transfer to a pie plate. Fill the unbaked crust with the fruit mixture. Sprinkle the crumble over the top. Bake for 40 minutes until filling is juicy and crumble topping is browned.
I want to be a judge for this contest! Did you win?
Sadly, no! A beautiful peach/nectarine pie won – it was lovely.
I love crumble pies! I hope yours won- it looks delicious!
My daddy loves cherry pie. This post brought back a memory of one summer, when we had a bumper cherry crop, and he begged me to bake him a pie. I was in high school, I think, and it was hotter than Hades in the kitchen, and I was standing there pitting about the bazillionth cherry, and BAM! I fainted in the kitchen, cherry pits flying. Good times.
This pie looks fabulous. I’m a sucker for a crumble on top.
Yikes! Well, if it were me, fainting might have put me off cherries for good!
What a great filling! I love the addition of the cranberries! Brilliant!
sounds like a great recipe kate
I was feeling extremely hungry at the thought of getting a mouthful of that pie in my mouth! something about the juicy berries and cherries and the rustic goodness of whole wheat and oats,, yum!
can’t believe you put so little flour and butter in your crust. Makes it sound so light!
Cherry pie! It looks so delicious – I’ve never made one, it doesn’t seem to be a thing in NZ but whenever I see a picture of one my mouth waters.
looks like a blue ribbon winner! I like mixing dessert genres, especially when it results in a healthier take on a sweet indulgence.
What a great entry — I hope you won! I love the oats in the crumble top for a little nutty flavor. And anything with oats is good for breakfast in my book!
How positively delicious! I like crumble toppings a lot more than crust. And I love that you used whole wheat. You deserve to win!
A delicious streusel pie! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Angie
I’m of the opinion that crumble toppings are always the way to go. They are just so buttery and delicious! What a great pie.
That’s so funny. I just wrote a post for Thursday about how I couldn’t decide if I liked apple pie with a lattice/ full crust top or crumble top better. To be truthful, I love ALL fruit pies. Yum.
Oooh, I love how pretty lattice tops are. Tough decision!
How divine!! Berry pie is my absolute favorite.
LOVE cherries, crumbles, and pies — so this is a winner in my book!
This pie looks just amazing!! I love the idea of using local honey!
I love the idea of putting a crumble atop a pie. In my mind, so much yummier than a crust!
I’ve never thought of entering food contests before…it seems so distant in my way of living. Yet…I find it so charming that you did. I think I can advance myself and say that for the Foodies that follow you…the winner in our book is most certainly your pie ;o)
I like that you used Honey with the fruit filling…interesting.
Ciao for now,
Claudia
Wow, I would love to try this sometime, it looks so delicious! Like all your other drooling readers, I love the crumble-instead-of-crust idea. Way to go, Katie!
Very nice Katie – Lovely combination of ingredients plus you have a wonderful pie base as well! Yummy honey too
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Oh i am sure this is absolutely delicious. Cherries and crumble, what’s not to like
. Pass the pie plate daaaaaahling.
*kisses* HH
I love everything about this pie Kate
Cherries made me click, but they taste great with blueberries and and really like how you used some whole wheat flour and the almonds in the topping… I wish my parents still had their giant cherry tree 
Thanks for sharing.