I owe my love for baking pies to the TV show “Pushing Daisies.” I made my first ever pie — apple with a lattice crust — to eat while watching the series finale in 2009.

Since then, I’ve made too many pies to count. Pumpkin pie. Pear pie with gruyere baked into the crust. Raspberry peach pie. Pot pie. More apple pie. Curry pie. Blackberry crumble pie. Caramelized banana pudding pie. Pumpkin pecan pie. Blackberry peach crumble pie. More pot pie. Peach custard pie. Strawberry rhubarb pie. Chocolate-covered pumpkin pie. Pot pie yet again.

Frankly, I don’t think Veg Out would exist 13 years later without “Pushing Daisies.” It was one of the first pairings I came up with when I planned out the schedule for the first year.

When I was developing this week’s recipe, I knew I wanted to make something extra special. The quadruple berry filling is meant to represent the show’s four outstanding lead characters (more on them later). The decadent crumble topping serves as a reminder of how rich and detailed every aspect of “Pushing Daisies” is.

Crust
Frozen gluten-free, vegan & low FODMAP pie crust or make your own (follow this crust recipe, noting you will only need half of it for this & omit the oil needed to brush it)

Filling
4 cups mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)
0.33 cups sugar
0.33 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons corn starch
0.25 teaspoons cinnamon
0.25 teaspoons cardamom
0.25 teaspoons salt

Topping
0.75 cups rolled oats
0.5 cups 1-to-1 gluten-free flour
0.5 cups brown sugar
0.5 teaspoon cinnamon
0.5 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons margarine, cut into small pieces

Instructions
Follow the instructions for your crust. If you have a frozen crust, it may need to thaw for a certain amount of time and/or require a little pre-baking before adding the filling.

To bake the pie, the oven should be preheated to 425°F.

In a large bowl, prepare the filling. *If you need to make this pie low FODMAP, note the FODMAP levels of the different berries. I mainly used raspberries, followed by strawberries, blueberries and a few blackberries.* Stir together the berries, sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, cardamom and salt so everything is mixed well and the berries are coated in a thin paste. Set aside.

In a stand mixer or by hand, whisk together the topping dry ingredients: oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add in the pieces of margarine. Once you get the last piece added, you will need to work the dry ingredients into the butter with your (freshly washed) hands. Set aside (in the fridge if your crust and the oven aren’t ready).

When the crust is ready and the oven is preheated, put your crust on top of a baking sheet so anything that spills over from the pie goes there and not on the bottom of your oven. (I speak from experience when I emphasize how important this is.)

Pour your filling into the crust. Use a spoon to ensure it’s evenly distributed.

Carefully place the topping over the filling so it doesn’t sink in too much. I recommend gently placing it one spoonful at a time.

Don’t overfill your pie. If you have any excess filling and topping, make yourself a bonus crumble. If you have extra of just one, they make excellent ice cream toppings.

Place the pie with the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375°F and continue baking for 30 more minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the crust and topping are lightly browned.

Take the pie out of the oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes.

I recommend serving warm slices of this pie with vanilla or salted caramel ice cream. You can find vegan and/or lactose-free versions of both.

The Easy Route
It is not hard to find a pre-made berry pie, whether at a local diner or your grocery store. If you want to procure that to pair with your viewing of “Pushing Daisies,” go for it! Note that it will be a little harder to specifically find a gluten-free, vegan quadruple berry crumble pie.

The Pairing
When someone asks what my favorite TV show is, “Pushing Daisies” is almost always the answer. I ended my opening to this post by calling the show brilliant. It is that in every sense of the word, from concept to execution.

For those who’ve never heard of the show before, the facts were these: It centers around Ned (Lee Pace), a piemaker who can wake the dead. He lives a pretty solitary life until Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), a private investigator, discovers Ned’s secret and proposes a partnership. Ned (temporarily) wakes murder victims so Emerson can easily solve the cases he’s hired to investigate.

Things hit a snag when Emerson is hired to investigate the death of Ned’s childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel). A slight spoiler for the first episode, but Ned decides to not make Chuck coming back to life temporary, resulting in complications that unfold throughout the series’ too-short two-season run.

Rounding out this fantastic foursome is Olive Snook (Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth), the sole employee at The Pie Hole, Ned’s place of business, and one of his neighbors in the apartments above it.

The relationships between Ned, Chuck, Olive and Emerson ebb and flow throughout the show’s 22 episodes. But one constant is the chemistry between them. They play off each other and their cast of supporting players with great panache, similar to how the berry flavors of this pie are lifted up by each other and the added sugar, lemon juice and seasonings.

Another aspect that contributes to the brilliance of “Pushing Daisies” are the visuals. The lush cinematography, set design and costume design provide that extra layer of intrigue, just like the crumble topping on the pie.

One of the reasons why I love “Pushing Daisies” so much is that it really doesn’t fit into a mold; it’s a true original. The show crosses every genre with ease, from comedy to drama, from horror to romance, from mystery to musical.

I cannot finish this post without mentioning Bryan Fuller, the creator and showrunner of “Pushing Daisies.” His behind-the-scenes work alongside the rest of the crew built the foundation for this show to flourish, in the same way a crust does for a pie filling.

This is the first series from Fuller to appear on Veg Out, and I guarantee it won’t be the last. “Wonderfalls,” “Dead to Me” and “Hannibal” all rank among my favorites as well.

I can also guarantee this won’t be the final Veg Out pie, even though we’ve now shared two pie recipes in our first month.

I’ll leave you with an optimistic line from “Bitter Sweets” (episode 8), delivered by our favorite piemaker: “Pie is home. People always come home.”

If you decide to make Pushing Pie and/or watch “Pushing Daisies,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes