Cyndi Lauper's Checkerboard Hair Pie

I know… having the word “hair” in the name of a pie just seems wrong. But, Cyndi Lauper’s 1980's multi-colored buzzed-on-one-side checkerboard hair is what inspired my pie.


Oh wait, let me back up a minute and explain this new blog event called “You Want Pies with That?”. Its in its second month and participants bake a pie that follows a theme. This month’s theme was chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon. Holly chose "Pies as a Fashion Statement" as the theme. In Holly's words "I decided that the theme for November would be all about Fashionable Pies, Outrageous Pies, Colorful Pies, Pies with Texture, Pies that are Haute Cuisine as well as Haute Fashion, Pies that are Decked Out, Embellished, and Over the Top!"

Wow! That's a tall order.

My pie comes from a YouTube-sponsored trip down 80's memory lane.

Growing up in Wyoming in the 1970's, you couldn't help but lead a sheltered life. We listened to Top-40's on the radio because that was all there was. All of that changed, however, on August 1, 1981 with the debut of that life-altering new TV station...










MTV opened up a whole new world to me. All of this music, the hair, the clothes, things I had never seen or heard of! Remember Culture Club? When I realized that that shabbily dressed girl was actually a guy? OMG, I still remember being shocked.

Then there was Cyndi Lauper.


Oh, how I loved that girl!! With her wild, mismatched clothes, her day-glo makeup and ever changing hair. Cyndi showed us that it was OK to be different and that different was fun. And she could belt out a tune, that's for sure. I always dug her hair from the video Time after Time. Believe it or not, that hairstyle inspired my pie. Yellow and pinky red... cross hatch...


My original plan was a peach, raspberry, and rhubarb pie with a lattice top. Things were going swimmingly until I added the fruit to the pie pan and saw that my pie was only half full. D'oh!!


I don't know why I veered from my original plan at that point. I wish I would have stuck with peaches, raspberries, and rhubarb, but I didn't. For some reason, I added blueberries. When that still wasn't enough, I added blackberries.


Fortunately, it made for a deee-licious pie. Like triple-berry pie with peaches and rhubarb thrown in for good measure. Plus, the cream cheese pie crust got high marks too.


Look ma! No runny filling!


So there you go, my fashion inspired pie. Reminds me of the good ole' 80's when they actually played music videos on MTV (and remember they had VJ's?). If you're an 80's guy or girl, I know you want to listen to my favorite Cyndi Lauper song, True Colors.

Here is the recipe. Be forewarned, there are a lot of dirty dishes involved.

TRIPLE-BERRY RHUBARB PEACH PIE

Mix together:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar, light or dark
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon instant tapioca
1-1/2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

In one bowl, place:
3 cup frozen sliced peaches, thawed and drained of syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Add half of the sugar mixture and toss, set aside.

In another bowl, place:
1-1/2 cup frozen rhubarb, cut into 1” pieces, thawed
1-1/2 cup frozen raspberries, thawed and drained of syrup

Add the other half of the sugar mixture and toss gently, set aside. My raspberries ended up basically liquefying after this, but it turned out OK.

You guessed it, in another bowl, gently toss until the berries are coated:
1-1/4 cup frozen blackberries, thawed and drained of syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

Finally, if you have any bowls left, add the following and gently toss until the berries are coated (or just use the blackberry bowl when you’re done with it, place the blueberries on top of the other fruit in the crust)
1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and drained of syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

Roll out half of the pie dough (recipe below) and line a 9-inch Pyrex or other pie plate with the crust.

Alternately add spoonfuls of your different fruits to the crust. Don’t stir them together, you want them to be distinct. Keep adding until all fruit is in the crust. Dot the top of the fruit with:
1 tablespoon butter

Roll out the other half of your pie dough. Use a pizza cutter or pastry cutter to cut ½ to 1-inch strips from the dough.

Rather than trying to explain how to weave the lattice, I’ll direct you to a YouTube video that demonstrates how to do this part HERE. Once the lattice is woven, trim the edges evenly, and crimp the edges in whatever manner suits you. I used a fork.

Place the pie in the refrigerator to chill for a half hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F degrees.

Bake at 375°F degrees for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees. I baked mine for about 25 minutes more, and then placed a metal pie shield around the edges to keep the edges from getting too brown. You could also line the edges with strips of aluminum foil. Bake for about 25 minutes more, or until golden brown AND the fruit is bubbling. My pie baked for about 60 minutes total.

Cream Cheese Pie Dough
(recipe from The Baker's Dozen Cookbook (which I highly recommend) and was contributed by Letty Flatt)

This recipe is easy. There's no ice water or cutting-in of butter or shortening involved.

1 cup unsalted butter
8 oz. cream cheese
2-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

Using a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, mix the butter at medium speed until smooth, approximately for one minute. Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth and combined. Add sugar and salt and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix on low just until the flour is incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a clean surface and divide in two. Using a piece of wax paper over top, push each half of dough into a disk. Wrap the dough in the wax paper and refrigerate for one hour or overnight. If chilled overnight, let dough sit on counter for about 10 minutes before rolling out