As "Good Morning America" continues its culinary quest to sample the sweetest shops across the country, one former firefighter's south Florida bakery stands apart.
Derek Kaplan's eponymous bake shop, Fireman Derek's, serves up specialty desserts, from cakes and cookies to one-of-a-kind pies with fresh, locally-sourced ingredients.
Kaplan shared his recipe below for a sweet and tart confection that adds a boost of tropical flavor to a traditional berry pie.
"I love to cook and bake," he said. "I've always had a passion for feeding people and being creative and I've been able to do that through pies and cakes and dessert."
Ingredients
1 good quality store-bought pie crust
448 grams (approx 1 pound) of mixed berries
160 grams guava paste or sauce
60 grams sugar
66 grams brown sugar
12 grams butter
10 grams lemon juice
3 grams vanilla
35 grams cornstarch
35 grams water
Directions
In a pot on medium heat, add berries, butter and sugar.
Allow berry mixture and sugar to breakdown and become liquid-like but make sure not to pulverize the berries. Add guava and lemon juice and continue to mix together. Add the cornstarch and water together in a separate bowl and mix until cornstarch is dissolved.
Make sure your berry mixture is hot and then add your vanilla, followed by your cornstarch and water. Stir until mix thickens and removed from heat.
Bake pie crust for 10 to 12 mins at 350 F.
Tip: Use pie weights if you have or use another aluminum pie pan on top to make sure the crust holds its shape.
Remove pie crust from oven once it's baked but hasn't turned golden brown. Add pie filling and topping crust.
Tip: Topping is totally up to you. You can make a lattice top, double crust or homemade streusel, which consists of flour butter and brown sugar.
Tip: Derek prefers to use an all-butter crust but using a high-quality store-bought crust is totally fine. It should provide a nice flaky pie crust.
Bake pie at 350 F for another 40-45 minutes or until top crust/lattice/streusel is nice and golden brown.
Allow the pie to cool before cutting. Pie can be served with fresh whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Keep pie refrigerated to preserve flavor and shelf life.
Additional Tips:
Derek prefers to use a mix strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.
Make sure the guava paste or sauce used is not too watery.