There is a really delicious recipe at the end of this post for a raspberry, strawberry and peach pie but first I wanted to share what I think to be some valuable life lessons learned from baking a lattice pie.

If there is one attribute about myself that I need to work on (like big time) it is my patience. My patience fuse is extremely short, whether that is sometimes with others, things, cooking, styling anything really. While I was baking this pie it all came to light in a fireball like way. If you look closely (it is pretty obvious you don`t really need to look that closely) you will see my lattice is anything but perfect. I am embarrassed to admit it but I swear to you I worked in it for at least 40 minutes and this is still how it turned out.

I do that thing where I will look at a picture and think ok that looks easy, take one more 5 second glance and ahead I go thinking I have this in the bag. When maybe if I had more patience I would have taken some time, like 2-3 minutes really read something through, studied some photos, had a page open with directions and then ventured into the task. But that course of action would have taken patience and even some general common sense so why would I go ahead with such logic. Logic that would most definitely probably lead to success.

I tend to choose the harder, least logically route just praying things will work out in the end. I actually don’t even pray most of the time I think “oh yeah I have this” when really deep down I know I don’t have anything and I am telling myself to read more and study some photos. But alas it doesn’t happen and then I crash and burn and throw a pie in the oven with tears streaming down my face from frustration and Paul in the corner looking at me puzzled, confused and shaking his head.

I suppose it comes down to feeling like I am a food blogger I should be able to lattice a pie without looking for help someplace else. Which is an absolutely ridiculous notion because I have never tried to portray I know everything and I am most definitely still learning and I have not cooked everything there is to cook or know everything there is to know about cooking. I hardly know how to cook a steak to the right temperature but I can cook a mean piece of lamb! I realized that this all stems down to the perfection notion, that notion that being a food blogger I should be perfect at everything and I most definitely shouldn’t be putting a photo of a pie up on my blog that is any less than perfect with its lattice work. Ahem bullshit...

I honestly cried and debating over and over again about even posting these photos because of that perfect syndrome. The pie is amazing, the flavour is bang on, the pastry is tender and flakey, maybe I shouldn’t have tried the lattice top but I did and honestly I didn’t want to have to redo the whole entire thing just because a few pieces of pastry were not intertwined together perfectly.

I really believe we need to be kinder to ourselves, not everything all the time has to be perfect. I am nowhere near perfect and would never claim to be. I think what matters more is that the pie is delicious, and not what the lattice on the top looks like. I mean in the end this isn’t a post on “how to make a perfect pie lattice” it is a post for a great pie, maybe you will make a much better prettier lattice or maybe you will just do a full top and forget the lattice (my vote goes there), either way your family is going to be happy to be eating a homemade delicious pie.

Food blogging and food photography just keeps getting better and better, there are some incredibly talented bloggers and home cooks that are killing this industry and I am so happy to be a little part of it. But I also think it comes with the notion that you can’t put anything out there less than perfect in all ways and I don’t think it should necessarily be about that. Everyone tries their hardest at what they do and at what they believe in and within their skill set with whatever their passion might be and you know what that is enough. That is enough. If you are putting your heart and soul into something that is cursing with perfection you will probably be disappointed more often than not.

In general the strive for perfection is a lost cause. There is no such thing a perfect and to be quite honest I would rather be a little imperfect and flawed then have the persona out there that everything I do and everything in my life is perfect because truthfully it is far from that. I believe our mistakes, flaws and imperfections makes us stronger, they help us grow, they help us learn and they help us become better versions of ourselves.

My recipes and photos are the perfectly imperfect version of who I am. My recipes are meant to be homey and rustic, slightly off kilter and anything but perfect. They always taste amazing (I hope) but I also want people to make them their own. They are a guide line to get you to a result that should be full of flavour and goodness but make them your own, change an ingredient or two, add a dash more or less of something. All our taste buds vary and my only desire is to give you something I believe is wonderful, I work hard on my recipes to make sure they come out great for you. Some are a one time this was amazing and some have taken me many redos or years of adding this and that to come up with the end result.

My last words, be kinder, more gentler with yourself. No one and I mean no one is perfect, that is a false persona that really needs to be kicked in the butt.

So here it is my wonky, totally jiggy, lattice in all the wrong places pie. In my defence this was my first latticed pie so I do hope to improve this skill of mine until then enjoy all this deliciousness cause it's really about the taste right?! Right?!

raspberry, strawberry, peach pie {deep dish} + cinnamon whipped cream

pie crust ingredients

4 cups of flour

3 tbsp of coconut sugar

1 1/4 tsp himlayan salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 1/3 cup chilled butter

2/3 cup ice water

1 egg whisked (for an egg wash)

pie filling

2-3 large peaches

2 1/2 cup raspberries

2 1/2 cup strawberries

3 tbsp flour

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp himlayan salt

cinnamon whipped cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp vanilla

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

directions

preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I used a large 8 inch deep pie dish.

pastry

whisk together the dry ingredients, set aside.

it is best to use chilled (frozen) butter. on the largest hole of a cheese grater, grate the butter into the flour mixture. mix lightly with a spoon every few grates. add in the ice water in small increments, stirring until all the water is added. knead the dough until just combined and then pour out onto the counter. you can add more water by the tablespoon if the mixture is still dry.

kneading again until the pastry holds together, form the pastry into two balls, wrap in saran wrap and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

pie filling

slice the peaches and strawberries. in a large bowl add all of the fruit along with the flour, maple syrup, spices and salt. place in the fridge until ready to use.

assembling the pie

once the pie pastry has chilled, lightly flour a flat surface and roll out one of the pastry balls until it is about 1/8 inch thick. fold and transfer to the pie dish, unfolding and leaving about a 1 inch hang over.

now you can either roll out the other ball of pastry into one large circle and forget the lattice top. if you do want to make the lattice top, roll out the pastry to about 1/8 inch thick.

cut the pastry with a sharp knife into long lines, I made 2 large wide ones, 6 medium wide ones and 5 thin ones.

separate the 6 medium ones into twos and twist together to get three twisted braids.

weave a lattice pattern with the pieces in any pattern you like. placing 5 vertical and 5 horizontal. trim the excess crust overhang. brush with an egg wash and place in the oven for 50-55 minutes.

cool completely before cutting and serve with cinnamon whipped cream

cinnamon whipped cream

add all of the ingredients to a stand-mixer and mix on high until it becomes whipped thick. 2-3 minutes, just make sure not to over whip or it can separate.