This rhubarb pie is a recipe I’ve been refining for many years. It is a blend of a few old recipes with some of my magic touches. The rhubarb filling has a perfect measure of sweet and bitter with a touch of spice, and the pastry will melt in your mouth. You can either use fresh or frozen rhubarb for this recipe, just make sure you thaw the frozen rhubarb first and drain off any excess moisture. You can also substitute half of the rhubarb for strawberries to make it a strawberry rhubarb pie. Enjoy.

For the pastry:

6 TBS ice cold Ginger Ale
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp sugar
2/3 cups vegetable shortening plus 2 TBL

1.) Before measuring flour fluff it with a fork then measure out the 2 cups of flour, in a large bowl combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar.
2.) Cut the shortening into the flour with 2 knifes until it looks like a bunch of small coarse pieces.
3.) Sprinkle a TBS at a time of the ginger ale over the mixture lifting and tossing with a fork.
4.) When the dough begins to come together gather it in your hands into a ball and divide into 2 pieces.
5.) Wrap the 2 pieces of dough in saran wrap then refrigerate while preparing the filling this will help when rolling it out.

For the filling:

5 cups of sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 1/4 cups of sugar
5 TBS flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 TBS butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

1.) In a large pot toss the rhubarb with sugar, flour and cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2.) Once evenly mixed set aside for 20-30 minutes to allow the dry ingredients to absorb some of the juice from the rhubarb.
3.) on a floured surface roll out the bottom crust slightly bigger than the pie pan then roll pastry back onto the floured roller and starting from one side of the pie pan roll the crust off of the roller and into the pan. Before trimming the pastry to the pan be sure to press the crust into the pans corners so the rhubarb mixture doesn’t rip them.
4.) Give the rhubarb mixture a final stir then pour the mixture into the bottom crust so it just slightly domes over the edge.
5.) Cut the butter into 1/4 inch peices and dot them evenly over the top of the rhubarb mixture.
6.) On a floured surface roll out the top crust until its about an inch larger then the pie plate all around.
7.) Slightly flour your roller then roll the pastry back onto it. Then starting from one side of the pie roll the pastry over the rhubarb mixture. (you can skip this method and move onto the lattice pastry directions in the link below if preferred.)
8.) brush some water between the 2 pieces of crust on the edges of the pie to adhere. Then using a fork press the edges together gently being sure not to press the fork right through the 2 pieces of crust.
9.) if your not making a lattice pastry you’ll at this point want to add some ventilation holes I like to keep mine closer to the top of the dome because rhubarb is known to leak. You can either use slits or small cookie cutters to make it look a bit fancy.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake for 25-30 minutes more.

You can substitute half of the rhubarb in this recipe for strawberries if pure rhubarb is to much for your taste buds.

Lattice pastry directions