Blackberry Love

I'm a little late on this, but I figured I'd share nonetheless. One of my favorite things about the end of Summer is blackberries. A ripe blackberry may just be the best thing in the world. On the other hand - an unripe blackberry? Terrible! I was actually really disappointed with the blackberries that we received in our CSA box this year - they looked really nice, but truthfully they tasted awful.

I couldn't take the lack of delicious blackberries anymore, so Jonathan and I headed out to pick some of our own. Sometimes I really appreciate giant weeds taking over everything - at least when those weeds are blackberry bushes! We spent an hour or so picking out at a local wildlife reserve a few miles from here and ended up with a giant bowl.

Now I'm not the world's best pie maker - pies actually intimidate me a bit and it doesn't help that both my mom and grandma make some of the best pie crust ever. That's a lot to live up to. But I would do just about anything for a blackberry pie, so I gave it a shot anyway and it actually turned out pretty close to perfect if I do say so myself! I went with an all-butter crust (although I'd like to try a coconut oil crust sometime, I've heard good things) so that might have had something to do with the delicious factor. The only thing I would do differently next time is use more blackberries for the filling, but I can't really complain since it left me with plenty to make jam!

The pie wasn't actually runny either, even though this photo may make it look otherwise - I think that's just because I took the first piece out when it was still warm. The filling actually held its shape really well which made cutting pieces nice and easy!

Here is the recipe I used if you'd like to try a blackberry pie of your own!

Blackberry Pie
Crust:
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
~1/4 cup cold water
Filling:
~6 cups rinsed blackberries (I think you could go for closer to 7, maybe 8)
1/2 cup sugar
Squeeze of fresh lemon
3 Tbs flour

To make the crust:
1. Pulse 2 cups of flour, the sugar, and salt in a food processor with the cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Add the remaining half cup of flour and pulse another couple of times.
3. Dump the flour/butter mixture into a large bowl and sprinkle with the cold water - use a spoon or clean hands to combine this into a dough that holds its shape.
4. Divide the dough into two equal halves.
5. Place one half on a sheet of parchment paper with a very small amount of flour - roll out carefully into a circle a few inches larger than your pan (this is where I usually get frustrated and decide I never want to make pie again - but stick with it, plus it doesn't have to look perfect anyway!).
6. Using the parchment paper to transport the crust, place it in the pan and carefully press the dough into the corners of the pan leaving the edges hanging over.
7. Repeat the rolling process with the second half of the dough.
8. Make the pie filling by combining all of the filling ingredients together - pour the filling into the prepared crust mounding it up in the center if it's a little too full (it will cook down).
9. Place the second crust over the top , trim off the edges, and then pinch the two crusts together making a decorative edge. Brush the top of the pie with butter and sprinkle with sugar - cut a decorative design in the top or just make a few slits to vent the steam.
10. Preheat oven to 425 - bake the pie for ~30 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 375, cover the pie with foil and continue to bake for another ~30 minutes.

Note: Make sure to keep a pan with a rim on the rack underneath the pie to catch drips - because it will drip and you don't want to set your oven on fire! Not that I've ever done that.... no really, I always catch it at the smoke detector alarm!  :)

**Crust recipe adapted from here, filling recipe adapted from here.**

Enjoy!!