Can you believe we’re already halfway through January?! That seems crazy to me. Maybe because I spent the first two weeks of the cooped up in my house with shingles so I feel like I missed the first half of the month.
Don’t get shingles, guys. I had it on my eyelid and top of the right side of my head and while the shingles have gone, I’ve had headaches for the last 2 1/2 weeks that don’t seem to be going anywhere. My doctor said I’d probably experience them for months.
While I was all cooped up, I did some baking and this pie was one of the successes.
The crust is my favourite. Instead of cutting in the butter we’re rolling it in, and using buttermilk for better texture. It’s a dream flaky crust and once you make it, you’ll never look back.
I like to braid the lattice because I’m a notorious overachiever and like to make myself do more work than is really necessary. Feel free to just do a regular lattice, or cut out some shapes to put on top, even cover the whole pie with dough. If you’re doing a double-crusted pie, make sure you cut a couple slits in it to let the steam out while it’s baking.
Our filling is the probably more autumnal combination of apples and blackberries. Deeeeeelicious. I used frozen blackberries because it is absolutely not blackberry season at the moment here in Portland. If you can use fresh, do, if not frozen works just fine. Don’t thaw them though, throw them in frozen.
Slice your apples thinly. Not so thin that you can read something through them, but try for around 1/4″ thick. You want them to cook to a nice consistency in the pie, not hard, but not turning to mush. No one wants a mushy apple pie. No one.
You don’t need to cook your filling before you put it in the pie, all of the baking is going to be done in the oven. I like this easy and efficient. Preferably with as little clean-up as possible because although the rule in my house is whoever cooks doesn’t have to clean, that doesn’t seem to apply when I’m baking.
Apple Blackberry Pie
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 2 sticks (8 oz.) cold unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 6 oz. buttermilk
- Egg, beaten, for brushing
- Raw sugar, for sprinkling
- Filling:
- 3-4 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (if using frozen, do not thaw)
- 1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Pinch nutmeg
- 4 tbsp. cornstarch
Directions
- Step 1 Crust:
- Step 2 Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes. Measure out the buttermilk and store in the refrigerator to keep it cold (you could even put it in the freezer for a few minutes too).
- Step 3 Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Take the cold butter from the freezer and toss it with the flour mixture.
- Step 4 Dump the cold butter cubes and flour mixture onto a large work area for rolling. With a rolling pin, roll the mixture, flattening the butter cubes with the flour into long, thin, floured butter sheets. Work quickly to ensure that the butter stays cold.
- Step 5 Place the flour and flattened butter back in the large bowl and chill for 10 minutes. When the butter is cold, remove the bowl from the refrigerator, make a small well in the center of the flour and butter mixture. Add the cold buttermilk to the bowl all at once. Begin to bring the dough together with one hand ( keep the other hand free to answer the phone). Moisten all of the flour with the milk, using your hand to break up large clumps of milk and flour. The dough will be rather shaggy, but you can add another tablespoon of buttermilk, if you see that all your flour isn’t moistened. Form the dough into two disks. The disks will be rough, and hard to shape together, but once they rest in the fridge for an hour, they’ll be easier to roll out.
- Step 6 Chill the dough for at least an hour in the refrigerator. At this point, the dough will keep in the fridge for up to three days, or in the freezer for up to three weeks. For freezing, roll the dough out into sheets and wrap them in plastic film.
- Step 7 Remove one disc and roll out to 12″ circle. Transfer to a pie plate and press into bottom and sides of pan. Leave overhanging dough in place and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Step 8 Remove second disc and cut lattice strips, braiding optional. Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
- Step 9 Filling:
- Step 10 Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Step 11 Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring to make sure cornstarch is well mixed in.
- Step 12 Remove pie crust from fridge and spoon the filling in, top with the lattice. Roll the overhanging ends into the pie pan and crimp decoratively.
- Step 13 Brush the beaten egg over the crust and sprinkle with raw sugar.
- Step 14 Bake for 60-70 minutes, until the dough is fully cooked and golden brown. If the top is browning too quickly, cover with foil.
- Step 15 Once pie is cooked, place on wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before putting in the fridge for 1 hour to ensure filling is set.
- Step 16 Slice & serve.
