Blackberry Pie

Call me crazy, but I made my first pie on Thanksgiving day and now I'm obsessed.  Obviously for my second pie, I had to step things up a bit and make a braided lattice top.  Now I'm not going to be winning any baking competitions with this pie, but it tasted absolutely delicious. I'm still working on figuring out how to crimp the pie crust, so I used a fork to style the outside rather than making the traditional wavy crimp pattern.  

I've never really been into pie before this - I don't like the classics like apple or pumpkin pie - so I'm exploring some alternative flavors.  This blackberry pie was light and fruity with a crispy, flaky crust.  I'll be honest - we made this crust with vegan butter and it was nowhere near as good as the crust I made with real butter.  The trick to making a good crust?  It's really not that hard.  All you do is add the flour and salt to the food processor and then shred the butter using the shred feature of the food processor.  Then slowly add one teaspoon of ice water at a time and pulse.  Literally all the work is done by the food processor and all you have to do is turn it on!  Oh and the filling you essentially just mix the berries with the fixings and then put them in the crust.  So for anyone who thinks that making pie from scratch is intimidating, I urge you to try it at least once.  I was definitely intimidated before I made our first Thanksgiving pie, but it turned out so well that I knew it was going to be my new favorite thing.

Since pies are my new thing, stay tuned for some creative & unique pie recipes coming soon!  What's in store?  Breakfast burrito pie & mini persimmon pies.  Intrigued?  Well those recipes will be coming soon.  In the meantime, enjoy this blackberry pie recipe.

Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 cup, 2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

8-10 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

5 cups fresh blackberries

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1-2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Add the flour and salt to the bowl of a large food processor.  Add the butter sticks through the feed of the food processor and shred.
2. Add 1 tbs of ice water at a time and pulse 4-5 times between each tablespoon.  Once the dough is combined and pulling away from the sides of the food processor, it should be done.
3. Remove the dough from the food processor and dump onto a large piece of saran wrap.  Cut the dough in half and form into two large dough balls.  Wrap each half in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before forming.
4. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
5. Once you remove the dough from the fridge, roll the base out about 3-4 inches larger than your pie dish.  Roll the top out to your desired shape.
6. Mix the filling ingredients in a large bowl and add to the bottom crust in the pie dish.
7. Top the filling with your crust top and bake for 20 minutes.  Turn the oven down to 375° F and bake for an additional 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for up to 3 hours before slicing.  If you slice into the pie right away, the filling will not be completely set.

I can't seem to follow my own advice, so I sliced into the pie after just 30 minutes and the filling was still a little runny.  It's really hard to let your delicious pie sit and cool before enjoying, but you'll get a much more firm filling if you do.  Or if you're like me, you can enjoy a slightly runny warm pie for the first serving and then refrigerate the pie and the filling will be more set for future slices.  I typically add the pie back into the oven while it's preheating and bake for about 10 minutes at 350° F to re-heat.  I'm sure you could put it in the microwave as well, but this way you don't lose the integrity of the crispy crust.