Happy Fourth of July, everyone! This morning dawned gray and a bit rainy, perfect for sleeping in, reading the paper and then giving a shot at a pie recipe that I’ve been eyeing for weeks. More specifically, it was the crust that caught my attention: a pale pink lattice beauty. It looked impressive enough to redeem myself from a peach pie fail earlier in the week — the flavor was most excellent, but it ended up too juicy and didn’t cut well and had to be served cobbler-style (thanks, Ian and Josh, for digging in regardless).

The recipe comes from one of my favorite sources, Pure Wow, and it couldn’t be easier. The secret is adding powdered freeze-dried strawberries to the dough. (You can find them at Trader Joe’s or Target).

I had just picked up pounds and pounds of rhubarb from the farmers market, so I knew I wanted to find a filling that would use up some of that bounty. (The Pure Wow filling just calls for strawberries.) For that, I turned to another beloved source, King Arthur Flour. Bingo — I found this recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie and went to work.

This was a super easy pie to pull together. The dough rolled out easily after a rest in the fridge, and the filling came together in minutes. (I used flour in the rhubarb mixture instead of Instant Clear Jell, and it turned out perfectly.) I used my fluted dough cutter to form the strips for the lattice, brushed some beaten egg white over the top, sprinkled with coarse sugar and baked it. After an hour in the oven, the pie was done and ready to tempt people (okay, Ian) as it cooled on the sideboard. The crust sadly lost much of its color after 30 minutes of baking, but I think that could be rectified by putting foil over the pie after an initial 10 or 15 minutes of baking. Regardless, it looks gorgeous and I expect it to taste just as good. :)

Enjoy the holiday, and I hope there are some fireworks in your future!