How to Make One Pie with Four Flavors: Blueberry, Cherry, Apple, & Strawberry
Pie is one of my favorite things, and in my opinion, is incredibly underrated. Like, how is it that we only have one, max two holidays that have a pie expectation? That may be why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love a pie in a dish, as a galette, or even handheld. Anything sweet or savory wrapped in pie crust I’m 100% in for: pot pie, chocolate pie, flat pie, you name it.
When I saw a social media baking pal make a “quarter” pie for the new year, I was fascinated. Pie dough can be a little tricky, so my mind was blown that Terrence was able to make four pies in one dish! I knew I wanted to try it but put it on the back burner since I wasn’t sure when. Then, a few weeks ago, I remembered: Pi Day. A day for nerds and bakers alike to celebrate their love for Pi (or pie, in my case).
I already had recipes for the various fillings on my site for a blueberry tart, a classic cherry pie, a single-serve apple scrap pie, and a strawberry basil tart. Though I did adjust a few – mainly the tarts – to suit more for a pie filling. I loved the idea of having different toppings to give different looks to the pie from a bird ‘ s-eye view, so I paired a classic top crust with a quick and easy struesel.
All in all, it was a delicious success and so fun to make (maybe next time with a savory option?)! Plus, it looks impressive to show people a 4-in-1 pie situation – and I’m here to impress, of course.
If you love this recipe, please rate and review below and tag @accentgolden in your social posts!
WHAT IS A QUARTER PIE?
It’s a pie divided into four equal sections, filled with four different fillings! After laying your base pie crust in your pan, take some of your extra dough and, like edible pottery, stand one long strip down the middle, attaching it with score marks and a little extra water. Then cut another long strip in half and attach it in the middle to either side of the middle strip. I was also fascinated by how this came to be, so here’s a handy video from Terrence for how to form the actual pie if you need it.
How do you keep the quarters from collapsing? There are two key players to holding the shape of your quarter pie. The first is chill time. Once you’ve formed and reinforced your quarter pie crust, cover and pop that baby in the fridge until extra firm (close to 24 hours). Secondly, you will need to blind bake your crust with baking weights. Tear off pieces of parchment paper or foil, lay them in each section, and weigh down with your weight of choice (I use rice).
INGREDIENTS
- Flour: A key binding and structure agent for your pie crust as well as a thickener for some of your fillings
- Salt: Adds flavor while managing the gluten buildup in your dough, giving you a flakier and tender crust
- Unsalted Butter: Also adds to the flavor and bake of your apples while making a flaky pie crust
- Cold Water: Another gluten manager that also keeps your butter cold so it can create more steamy pockets while it bakes, giving you more flake!
- Egg: Mixed with a little water, milk, or cream and brushed over the crust to give a delicious golden brown color
- Sweet Cherries: I like to use frozen fruit for year-round fresh pie, but you do you
- Granulated Sugar: Acts as both a sweetener and in conjunction with the natural pectin in your fruit to thicken your fillings
- Cornstarch: Helps thicken the juicier strawberry and cherry fillings
- Lemon Juice: Balances with the sweetness of the fruits for the best flavor while working with the pectin to give a perfect set in the final bake
- Strawberries: The base for your strawberry pie
- Cinnamon: A cozy flavor balance to your blueberry and apple fillings
- Blueberries: A deliciously sweet base for one of your quarters
- Apples: Cut thick to create just the right texture (no mushy apples here!)
- Old Fashioned Oats: Give the best texture to your crumble topping
- Brown Sugar: Adds a rich sweetness to your crumble
Can I top the entire dish with pie crust? Absolutely! You will have pie crust left over – I like to cut them into unsexy pieces and freeze to bake later (say for this Single-Serve Apple Scrap Pie) – if you split with the streusel. If you want to omit the streusel and go full-crust, you will have enough to do just that! I would recommend making each top crust look a little different to make each quarter look unique.
HOW TO MAKE ONE PIE WITH FOUR FLAVORS
Start by making the dough for your pie crust that will form both the base of your pie and the “+” that will divide it into four equal parts. Stir together your flour and salt in one bowl and cut in your butter using two knives or a food processor until you have a sand-like consistency. Place a few ice cubes in a glass with water before adding in your cold water to the mixture, stirring, and pressing together until you have a ball of dough. Cut the dough in half and place one of your dough balls between two large pieces of parchment paper and roll it to a ⅛” thickness, making sure your dough is an even thickness throughout.
Peel back the parchment paper from the top of your dough, being careful not to tear it, lay it back onto the dough, flip all of it over, and repeat with the bottom (now top) layer of parchment. Remove one side of the parchment and carefully lay that side face down into a 9-inch pie dish before removing the top layer of parchment paper. Gently shift the dough to ensure it is lying flat within the pan and along the sides. Tuck under the remaining excess dough around the edges to form your crust. Crimp your crust with your pointer and middle fingers along the edge.
To split your pie into quarter sections, roll your other dough ball into a circle, measure, and cut two strips that are as long and tall as the pie. Take a knife and dock (make small marks) down the side, middle, and opposite side – rotating your dish 90 degrees and repeating. Make sure not to cut through your dough as you mark it. With a little bit of water in a cup, dab your finger inside and dab along the docked marks. Grab one of your pieces of dough and line it up along that line, and with a wet finger, “melt” the dough together. Now, your pie should be split into two halves. Cut your second strip in half and repeat this process in the center of your pie on either side of the middle strip. Use some of the extra dough to reinforce the center of your “+” and where it connects to the edge before covering and placing your crust in the fridge for at least 15 hours.
Once chilled, preheat your oven to 425F and remove your crust from the fridge. Use a fork to prick the bottom and sides of your crust (not the “+” you made) to prevent the crust from puffing as it bakes. Tear a large sheet of parchment paper and cut into four equal squares, crumbling each and placing into each quarter. Fill each section with your baking weights, spreading out into all the nooks and crannies. Bake your crust for 18 minutes, remove it from the oven, and carefully remove each of the pieces of parchment paper with the baking weights. Return your pie crust to the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the inside bottom of your crust is no longer wet-looking. Cool completely before adding your fillings.
While your crust bakes, prep each of your fillings and your crumble topping. For the crumble, combine all the ingredients except for the butter into a bowl, mix, and then use your fingers to rub your butter into your dry mixture until you have coarse crumbles. Set your crumble topping in the fridge while you prep your fillings – you want that butter to stay cold!
For your cherry and strawberry fillings, add each set of ingredients into their own pots and place them on the stove. The goal here is to cook down and thicken some of that yummy liquid until you form a delicious sauce. Once ready, pour into their own bowls and allow to cool completely at room temperature.
For the blueberry and apple fillings, add all of your fruit (peeled and sliced apples!) and dry ingredients to their bowls and stir to coat them before mixing in the lemon juice. Reserve the butter for the apple filling until it’s in the crust, and then dot your filling in the crust with the butter.
Once your crust and fillings have cooled, it’s time to assemble! Preheat your oven to 325F (lower than when you baked your crust initially, so make sure you adjust!). Pour each of your fillings into their respective quarter before topping the strawberry and apple quarters with your crumble mixture (don’t be afraid to pile high!) and slicing your excess dough into strips before creating a lattice of dough on top of your cherry and blueberry fillings (or whatever pie dough design you chose).
Whisk together your egg and a splash of milk and brush your egg wash along your dough before sprinkling with coarse sugar. Bake for 60-65 minutes until the fillings look set and the top crust is golden in color. Allow your pie to cool for at least 30 minutes (the longer, the better, though) before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
3 reasons you’ll love this pie
TIPS & VARIATIONS
- When building your quarter structure, don’t hesitate to reinforce with extra dough where you think it’s needed. I added more to most of the “joints” to provide extra stability.
- Make sure you prick your dough with a fork before lining each section with parchment paper and filling with your baking weight. Once you remove the baking weights from each quarter, your crust will go back into the oven “naked,” and the small fork holes will help ventilate the crust and prevent it from collapsing.
- Both the cherry and strawberry fillings need to cook down before baking in the pie crust. When making your pie, make sure you plan enough time to both cook and cool these fillings ahead of pouring them into your par-baked crust.
- If you prefer another fruit filling, go for it! Just choose fillings that have similar baking times so they all bake evenly.
- Aside from the apple quarter, which you can pile high, don’t fill your other quadrants all the way to the top. You can get it pretty close, but you might have to spoon out a little extra since you don’t want too much spillage (which will have your flavors mingling) or risk damaging the inner walls with the weight of the excess filling.
- You can easily swap the topping to be all crust or all crumble. If doing the crumble, up the recipe by half to have enough to cover the entire pie.
- You will have extra pie dough! Form it back into a ball and slightly flatten it into a disc, wrap it airtight, and freeze for up to 6 months. Or, cut into pieces and freeze to make pie crust “cookies” whenever you like (maybe with this single-serve apple scrap pie)!
MAKING AHEAD & STORING
You can freeze your pie dough already shaped in the pan for up to 6 months. To ensure freshness, snugly wrap your pan with your dough to prevent air from getting in.
You can also make your cherry and strawberry fillings in advance. Allow them to cool completely and store them in airtight containers in the fridge for four days or in the freezer for three to four months.
Once you’ve made your pie, store it covered at room temperature for two days or in the fridge for up to a week.
MORE PIE RECIPES
Craving chocolate? Of course! Try this Chocolate Pudding Pie, which is always on the table for a special occasion. For something filled with all the cozy flavor, try this Easy Cinnamon Roll Pie made simple using storebought cinnamon rolls!
How to Make One Pie with Four Flavors: Blueberry, Cherry, Strawberry, & Apple
Print Recipe Pin RecipeEquipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Butter Knives or Food Processor
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- 9-inch Pie Dish
- Fork
- Pastry Brush
- Rolling Pin
- Parchment Paper
- 1 Medium Pots
- Spoons
- Pastry or Pizza Cutter
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Peeler
- Foil
- Baking weights
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter cold and cubed
- 8 tbsp cold water
- Egg for egg wash
- Coarse sugar for sprinkling
- 1 ¼ cups frozen sweet cherries
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups strawberries
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 2 ½ tsp cornstarch
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp flour
- ¼ tsp heaping cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cups frozen blueberries thawed
- 4 tsp lemon juice
- 2 large apples 1 ½?
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 4 tsp flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp butter cubed
- 4 tbsp old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 ½ tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp brown sugar packed
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 ½ tbsp unsalted butter cold and cubed
Instructions
CRUST:
- In a bowl, stir together your flour and salt. Using two butter knives, held against each other with one in each hand to form an “X,” cut your butter into your dough, with the knives pulling away from each other and back in, until you have a sand-like consistency.
- Add in your water (I like to put a few ice cubes in a glass before filling it with cold water to make sure it’s extra cold), stir together, and then compress the dough into two even balls
- Place one of your dough balls between two large pieces of parchment paper and roll it to a ⅛” thickness, making sure your dough is an even thickness throughout.
- Gently peel the parchment back from the top layer, lay it back onto the dough, flip all of it over, and repeat with the bottom (now top) layer of parchment. Repeat this rolling and peeling process with your other dough ball.
- With one of the rolled balls, remove one side of the parchment and carefully lay that side face down into a 9-inch pie dish, then remove the top layer of parchment
- Carefully shift the dough to ensure it is lying flat within the pan and along the sides. Tuck under the remaining excess dough around the edges to form your crust
- Make a peace sign with your pointer and middle fingers on one hand, and place it along the edge of your crust. With the pointer finger of your other hand, pointing toward the center of the peace sign, pull back the dough in the center of your fingers. This will form a crimp. Repeat along the edge of your crust until complete.
- To form your quarters, with your other rolled dough circle, measure and cut two strips that are as long and tall as the pie. Take a knife and dock (make small marks) across the center of your pie crust from the edge, down the sides, across the center, and back up. Turn your pie plate 90 degrees and repeat the docking process. You should have a “+” of docked marks now. Be sure to not cut through your crust when you dock, you just want to lightly mark it.
- Put a little bit of water in a cup and, using your finger, dab into the water and then dab it across one of the docked lines. Grab one of your pieces of dough and line it up along that line, and with a wet finger, pinch/lightly rub the bottom and edges of the strip of dough into those docked marks to “melt” the dough together. Now, your pie should be split into two halves.
- For your final quarters, take your second long strip of dough and cut it in half, repeating with both halves the process of wetting your docked marks and pinching/rubbing the dough into the bottom and sides (being careful as you connect it in the center to your other dough strip). Now you have your quarter pie crust!
- Place your crust in the fridge for at least 15 hours to allow the crust to get nice and firm before baking. This is key to your quarters holding and your crust baking without collapsing!
- Preheat your oven to 425F
- Once your dough in the pie dish is chilled, remove it from the fridge and prick the bottom and sides of your crust along the pan (not the center dough that’s making the “+”) with a fork to prevent the crust from puffing while it bakes. Tear a sheet of 15”x15” parchment paper, fold and cut into four equal squares, crinkle. Crinkle each square of parchment paper and lay one carefully in each quarter of your pie. Pour your baking weights into each section, smoothing out to lay flat
- Bake your chilled crust for 18 minutes, remove it from the oven, and carefully remove each of the pieces of parchment paper with the baking weights. Return your pie crust to the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the inside bottom of your crust is no longer wet-looking. Cool completely before adding your fillings
CRUMBLE TOPPING (for apple and strawberry quarters):
- In a bowl, combine your oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt
- Add in your cubed cold butter and give a quick stir before rubbing your butter into your dry ingredients until you have coarse crumbles
- Set in the fridge while you prep your fillings
CHERRY FILLING:
- For the cherries, stir together your cornstarch and water until dissolved
- In a medium pot, add your cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch slurry. Stir and place over medium-high heat, continuing to stir until lightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes
- Remove from the heat immediately and pour into a heat-safe bowl to cool to room temperature (about 35 minutes)
STRAWBERRY FILLING:
- If using fresh strawberries, halve and quarter them before adding them to a medium pot
- Add sugar and zest to the berries and stir. Place the pot on the stove over medium-high heat
- Once the mixture thickens, add the lemon juice, boil, and stir in your cornstarch
- Allow mixture to reduce by at least a third, stirring regularly
- Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature
BLUEBERRY FILLING:
- In a bowl, stir together sugar, cinnamon, salt, and flour. Add blueberries and any juices and stir to coat
- Add lemon juice and stir to coat
APPLE FILLING:
- Peel your apples and cut them into ½-inch slices, removing the core.
- In a bowl, stir together your cut and peeled apples, cinnamon, flour, salt, and sugar. Then, mix in your lemon juice. Keep your cubed butter in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble!
ASSEMBLY
- Preheat oven to 325F
- Once your pie crust is cooled, pour each filling into their respective quarter, dotting your apple pie quarter with the cold, cubed butter. You may need to remove a little of the goo from your strawberry quarter if it seems too full. Allow your fillings to “dry” in the crust for 10 minutes, uncovered at room temperature
- Split your crumble topping between your apple and strawberry pie quarters; don’t be afraid to pile it high!
- Your cherry and blueberry quarters will have a top crust. Remove your rolled crust from the fridge and cut it into thin strips using a pastry or pizza cutter. Make a lattice crust on your cherry pie by laying 3 vertical strips (cutting off any excess) and then laying horizontal strips one at a time, over one vertical strip and over the next. For the blueberry, form another lattice or cut into small pieces and lay on top as desired.
- Beat an egg with a splash of water to make an egg wash. Brush the raw crust lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar
- Wrap the edges of your pie crust (the part that’s already spent time in the oven) with foil to prevent the crust from browning too quickly in the oven
- Bake your quarter pie for 60-65 minutes, rotating it halfway through the bake and removing the foil along the edges. Your top crust should be golden in color when finished
- Cool for at least 30 minutes to an hour before serving to allow your fillings time to set
