HRD Kitchen brings back shades of red, white and blue to its dessert menu

Hazel, Ravines and Downtown Pastry Chef Olivia Rinke is bringing back shades of red, white and blue to the dessert menu for this Birmingham restaurant this summer. Hazel’s is about to celebrate the return of its beloved summer menu, Hazel’s Lobster Pound - which starts July 7. 

Olivia walks through a demonstration and shows us how she makes her Blueberry Pie. She also shares desserts like Cherry Pie and her classic vanilla cream-filled chocolate Whoopie Pie, as she talks about bringing a spark of red, white or blue to your holiday dessert this Independence Day.

Recipe by Olivia Rinke, pastry chef

Blueberry Pie dough

Ingredients:

1 cup cold butter (diced) 

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp sugar 

4-5 TBS cold water 

Process:

Cube cold butter and place in refrigerator to keep cold.

Combine flour, sugar and butter in a bowl. Use clean fingers, fork, or pastry blender to combine into pea sized pieces. Mix in cold water and knead until smooth a dough ball forms. Cut in half and refrigerate each half wrapped in plastic wrap until filling is ready. 

Blueberry Pie filling

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

2 1/2 TBS of cornstarch 

1/2 tsp lemon zest 

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar 

Process:

Combine all of the filling ingredients together.

Egg wash

Ingredients: 

1 egg beaten 

1 TBS water

Process:

Preheat oven to 410 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roll out chilled pie dough by taking one half and placing it in the pie tin for the bottom crust. Then fill the pie shell with the blueberry mixture. Roll out top crust, place over filling, pinch and crimp the edges together to seal the top and bottom layer of the pie together. 

Poke three holes in the top crust to let steam out of the pie during the baking process. 

Brush top of pie with beaten egg wash. 

Bake for 10 minutes. Drop oven temperature down to 365 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 more minutes or until pie is golden brown. 

Let pie cool and then serve. Enjoy!