Apple and Blackberry Pie Recipe
Not much can beat a blackberry. Mmm…just the thought is enough to drool! We could probably eat a bucket of them each. And we aim to stuff a bucket of them into our apple and blackberry pie! If we had to choose one bad thing about them. And we mean really had to, then perhaps the ONLY bad flaw is they make your mouth a really dodgy colour..
Although it does give us an excuse to keep shovelling them in and avoid speaking to anyone.
Back to the point. Our love of blackberries has led us to the one and only apple and blackberry pie! This one specifically has a higher ratio of apple to blackberry because by the time it comes to making the filling, most of the blackberries are gone…guilty. It might look like a LOT of apples at first but once they’re soft and cooked they will reduce in size.
Turning a classic humble apple pie, into something more fitting for the Spring or Summer, serve with a dollop of cream or some indulgent ice cream. If you find you do have this craving in the winter when berries might not be in season, why not grab some frozen blackberries to chuck in instead. It’s quite easy to substitute frozen berries in baking as our Cherry Bakewell Cookies recipe.
The flowered pie crust definitely help with this vibe too. You don’t have to do flowers, but we encourage you to get creative with the pie crust. Not only is it fun but it’s aesthetically appealing and we all love to eat food that aesthetically appeals to us.
Pie Crust Pattern Ideas
Cookie Cutters – So if you don’t have fancy cookie cutters around, you can simply use a round cookie cutter. Roll out your pastry a littler thinner and cut out as many rounds as you can. Neatly layer over the top of the pie.
Piping Nozzles – Cookie cutters may not be an option, but alternatively a piping nozzle can work just as well. You’ll just get smaller rounds. This is also what we’ve done to get the borders for the pie in the images.
Strips – If you come to the end and find that you don’t have enough pastry for the whole pie topping, try out the classic weaved stripes. You’ll see some of the filling, but we’ll call it authentic and rustic. Roll out your remaining pastry into a rectangle and cut into long strips. You’ll need about 6 the length of the pie tin; you can have more or less. Now 3 strips vertically and 3 horizontally with about an inch between them. You can even be a little extra and weave all of them through each other!
Handy pie making equipment
You will need:
- 23cm Pie Dish
- Rolling pin
- Pastry brush
- Flower cookie cutter (optional, this is us being extra)
Don’t fret if you find you don’t have a suitable pie dish. You can use almost anything. If you have smaller ramekins, simply make mini pies!
Tips for the perfect pie
- If you’re struggling to pick the sheet of pastry up from your surface – roll it back around your rolling pin and then gently unroll over the top of the dish, starting at one end.
- For a thicker & tastier sauce and chunkier apples – Cut your apples into thicker slices or 1-1.5cm chunks. Then simply cook them first in a saucepan on low heat with 100ml of water, the cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice and half a teaspoon of the cornflour. Do this until the apples are soft. Then continue with the rest of the recipe.
- You can also make this pie without the blackberries for a simple apple pie or try it with different berry combinations. As long as you stick to the amount of fruit you need to fill the pie, this recipe will work for most!
- The milk helps the pie to go golden so don’t sleep on that step! We only brushed our flower crust lightly which is why the petals got more golden than the middle.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Servings |
slices
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- 400 g shortcrust pastry shop bought or click ingredient for our homemade recipe*
- 5-6 apples granny smith or pink lady
- 225 g blackberries
- 175 g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinammon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tbs cornflour also known as cornstarch
- 2 tbs butter (optional)
- 1/2 lemon, juice of
- 2-3 tbs milk (non dairy for vegans)
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 190 or 170 fan oven.
- Lightly flour your surface. Cut your pastry dough in half and roll it out to a thin sheet. It needs to be slightly larger than 23cm to fit the base of the pie. Place your rolled out pastry sheet over the pie dish and press down lightly inside to mould it to the dish. Cut excess away.
- Prepare a big bowl of cold water with a lemon squeezed in (lemon is optional). Peel and core your apples then cut them into thin slices (emphasis on the thin). Place the slices into the bowl after every apple to stop them going brown.
- Drain the apples thoroughly then add the lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cornflour and sugar. Stir well then add the blackberries and gently toss together.
- Roll out the other half of the pie dough to the same thickness and size (Slightly larger than the pie dish).
- Pour the pie filling into the dish and ensure it’s evenly spread out. Add small chunks of butter on top of the filling.
- Place your other sheet of rolled out pastry over the top of the pie. Cut around the edge carefully.
- Seal the pie edge by pressing down with a fork or your finger. Get creative with designs for the pie topping. It doesn't have to be just a plain sheet!
- Using a small sharp knife, make a cross in the middle of the pie to stop it from overheating inside.
- Brush the top of your pie with milk and put in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. The apples should be soft enough for your knife to go straight through the pie.
*We used our homemade shortcrust pastry in this recipe here. Why not give our quick shortcrust a go if you do decide to go homemade.
