Montana Huckleberry Chocolate Fleck Pie Recipes

MONTANA HUCKLEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• Mix flour and sugar with berries. Set aside. Roll out a little more than half the pastry dough to 1/8-inch thickness and fit into a 9-inch pie pan. Pour the berries into the pie shell. (If you use commercial blueberries, sprinkle 1 tablespoon lemon juice on top.) Roll remaining pastry a little thinner than for the bottom crust. Prick with your favorite design. Brush the edge of the bottom crust with cold water, and place the upper crust on pie. Press crusts together at the rim and trim off the excess dough. Flute the edge. Bake in a preheated 450° oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and bake about 40 minutes. Note: Montana huckleberries are really blueberries. The scientific name of the genus is Vaccinium and that is the blueberry genus. But these wild berries are a world apart from the commercial blueberry, so they deserve a distinct title. We Montanans will fight for the name "huckleberry."

MONTANA HUCKLEBERRY CHOCOLATE FLECK PIE

Steps:

• Pie Crust: Combine butter and sugar. Do not cream. Add flour. Mix just until dough will form. Place 1/4 cup of mixture crumbled in small pan. Press remaining mixture evenly over bottom and sides of 9-inch pie pan with well-floured fingers. Bake at 375° until light golden brown. Bake crumbs 10-12 minutes, and crust 12-15 minutes. Pie Filling: Melt chocolate chips in double boiler. Cool to lukewarm. Combine in small bowl the sugar, water, egg white, vanilla, and lemon juice; beat with electric mixer at highest speed until soft peaks form when beaters are raised (3-5 minutes). Beat whipping cream until thick. Fold melted chocolate slowly into whipped cream mixture then fold into egg white mixture. Fold huckleberries into the mixture. Put into pie crust; sprinkle with baked crumbs and freeze. Fun Fact: In land area, Montana can accommodate Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York, and still have room for the District of Columbia. Montana covers more than 147,000 square miles, making it the fourth largest state in the nation after Alaska, Texas, and California. The name Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña, meaning "mountain," even though the eastern part of the state consists of gently rolling pastureland.