Apple and Blackberry Pie

Ice cream? A tower of pistachio and coffee on a wafer cone

Snacks? A packet of mixed nuts or salted pretzels

Biscuits? I’ll take the rich teas and oat cakes

Chocolate? Dark 80%+ cocao, the bitter the better

As the saying goes, I guess I’m just sweet enough!

I personally don’t have a sweet tooth so desserts have never been something I ever really yearn for. When I do, I tend to go for something of a savoury combination; strawberry cheesecake, apple pie, rhubarb crumble, banoffee pie and when I make these particular desserts, of course there’s an uncommon biscuit base to sweet cream cheese ratio, my pastry dresses every inch of the caramelised fruit and the clusters of crumble are large and plentiful.

I’ve noticed that my tastebuds react to seasons and autumn/winter tends to bring out my ever so conservative sweet tooth. It’s when the nights get darker, the knitwear comes down from the loft, and the crisp air starts to set a thin film across my face THAT is when my body craves something sweet, filling and full of comfort .

So as the leaves are dropping from the branches, so are the large green apples in my garden – this, the chilly autumnal weather and a confident craving for comfort food inspired me to make an apple and blackberry pie.

Apple and Blackberry Pie

– Pre heat oven to 160 c –

Filling

x2 large apples or x3 medium apples – I used the apples from the garden but granny smiths are preferred in pies for their sweet tart flavour

Cinnamon (tbsp)

Caster sugar (2 tbsp) use more for a sweeter filling

Plain flour (tbsp)

Lemon juice (2 tbsp)

Pastry

Egg x1

Caster sugar (tsp)

x2 packets of sweet shortcrust pastry

If ready made pastry is good enough for Gordon and Jamie, its good enough for me!

I’ve chosen to use sweet shortcrust pastry for this recipe as the apples I’m using have a slight sour taste and I didn’t want to use too much sugar in my filling. Plain shortcrust pastry is just as good if you want to use more sugar in your filling or sweeter choices of fruit

Roll out the pastry over the pie dish ensuring that the pastry flops over the edge around 1/2 an inch, voila your base is ready.

Filling

Chop the apples into large chunks about an inch in width and whatever height you best prefer ( be careful not to cut the chunks too small or thin as when cooked will turn into a slight “mush”). Throw apples into a large bowl and add the caster sugar, cinnamon and flour. place the apple mixture into the pastry base and place the blackberries one by one evenly between the pieces of apple.

Pie Topping

Now for the pie topping, you can roll out and lay your 2nd packet of  pastry on top and pinch together at the edges to seal and decorate on top with the left over pastry trimmings as you like OR you can do weave strips of pastry to make the pie topping as I have done below.

I had to work quite quickly with the pastry so unfortunately I wasn’t able to take pictures of the technique of weaving and sealing it. However, this link has clear instructions on this part http://goo.gl/fweZ8N

I brushed the top of my pie with a beaten egg and a tsp of sugar – this will give it a nice golden finish.

After 25 mins of being in the oven you will have a golden pie with a rich bubbling tart filling. Leave to cool and serve with custard, vanilla ice cream or pouring cream, enjoy!