Dump Pie with Fill in the Blank Fruit and Jello

My crust recipe was from a day, 45 years ago, when my mother sent me to her friends house to help make some homemade apple pies.

Her crust was so simple. Three cups of flour, a teaspoon salt, two thirds cup of oil, two thirds cup of cold water, and stir. The salt activates the flour so it becomes stretchy. It becomes a ball. You can add a little extra water to get the final crumbs if you like, but generally, if you flip the ball over, you can get it all into the ball. The ball of dough is divided into two balls of equal size and rolled out to a circle that is one inch bigger than your pie plate.

You can use a baking pan if you'd rather. I have even used a large flat sheet with one inch sides for the pan and made bars. But, for today, I'm using a pie plate.

I use a large flat board, or the back side of a cookie sheet and place a long piece of plastic wrap on it, and place one of the balls of pie crust dough on it. Fold the end of the plastic wrap over the dough and sandwich the dough ball in the plastic wrap and roll it flat until it is a circle a little bigger than your pie pan.

Open the plastic wrap, place your pie plate on top of the rolled crust, and flip the pie plate, plastic wrap and the board over, and remove the board, and the plastic wrap. If you were successful, the crust should be on your pie plate. Now you just have to adjust the dough to be flattened against the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Leave a little bit at the top for merging crusts, top and bottom. You will need to seal the fruit inside the crust at the edges.

One circle goes into your pie plate. The other circle needs to sit aside until you fill the pie plate with your fruit, jello, butter and a little bit of flour.

Before I start, I sprinkle some sugar on the bottom crust. From here on, I'll talk about the bottom crust, which is installed in the pie plate, filled and then, the top crust, which waits to be placed on top of the fruit, flour, jello mixture in the pie plate.

You'll need to put about four cups of fruit in the pie plate on top of the crust. 4 pats of butter,three tablespoons of flour, a large package of jello, and that is it. Just dump it all on.

You can use fresh fruit, or raw, and you can also use frozen fruit.

I don't even use any sugar any more with my fruit, other than the sugar I sprinkle on the crust itself. For sugar, I use a large package of Jello. Here's the deal. You pick the flavor of Jello that you use. I doubt it matters if you use the sugar free jello, its purpose is to thicken the juice that comes when the pie is baking, the fruit becomes liquid, and the jello merges with the hot liquid and boils and later, when it cools, becomes a thickened mass we know as Jello. This Jello just happens to harden with the fruit of your choice inside it. Some fruits do not work with Jello. You will have to check the label on the box.

Oh yes, you will not be able to sample the pie until you refrigerate it after it cools. Overnight. In the morning, it will be stiffened and you'll be able to cut it.

You will need to seal the edge when you put the top crust on the fruit. Press the top and bottom crust together all around the edge of the pie plate. Use a fork to squish the edge. Then, use the fork to poke holes in the top of the crust. This lets the moisture and steam escape from the pie. Also, sprinkle sugar across the top of the pie crust so it is sweetened. If you like, you can mix cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger with the sugar so it scents the air a little. Makes the crust taste good, as well.

Don't worry. Your pie crust will be fine. It won't be wet from the steam. Nope. It will be crispy and dry and delicious.

The oven needs to be 350 degrees. Bake for one hour and 20 minutes. This ensures that your fruit comes to a boil and merges with the Jello. Cool over night. This ensures that the Jello hardens with the fruit.

Last night, my hubby brought home a box of blueberries that his mom sent home with him. He was hopeful that I would make it into a pie. Smile. I just happened to have some frozen black raspberries left over from the last time I picked. But, no jello.

Instead of Jello, I used 2 envelopes of Knox gelatine. For some reason, Knox Blox popped into my mind as I was searching the cabinet. Plus, I had some fruit juice boxes for the granddaughters on the shelf, and I thought, hey, why not.

So, the bottom of the crust was sprinkled with the sugar seasoning that comes with those hams, then four pats of butter on the bottom. Then, the blueberries. Then the knox powder. Then the frozen raspberries. Then, the cup of sugar. Yes. One cup of sugar. A light dusting of flour across the top of the fruit, and then, I cut open a HiC Blazing Blueberry juice and dumped it over the fruit. Added my second crust, sealed it, poked holes, added more Ham sugar to the top, and baked it for an hour and 15 minutes.

After I took it out of the oven to cool, [and remember, you have to refrigerate it over night for the gelatine to set up], I fell asleep briefly on the couch. I woke up to my husband asking me if the pie was done. Nodding his head.

I told him he could have a piece of it, but it wasn't going to be set up so he'd have to use a bowl and put up with it. He obliged and said it was 'nummy.'

This morning, I took some random photos of the pie after it set.