For something a little bit different today I want to share my blackberry-apple pie recipe.
I’ve been making pies for 35 years and I do things quite a bit differently than most people, because in my opinion the standard American apple pie was designed at a time when most apples were a lot more tart and refrigeration was scarce so the diabetes-inducing quantity of sugar acted as both a necessary sweetener, and a preservative. If you’re brave enough to try this recipe, I think you’ll be surprised.
The recipe:
Start with a 10 inch deep-dish pie pan and cut up enough of your favorite crisp sweet apples to fill it to slightly heaping. Transfer to a big bowl and add 2-4 cups of blackberries, 5 tablespoons of cornstarch or flour, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon each of lemon and orange zest, and NO SUGAR.
preheat oven to 400° (most electric ovens cook hot so for electric use 375)
For the crust I am a diehard traditional butter crust man. Mix 2 1/4 cups flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Chop in 2 sticks of very cold butter with a pastry knife working quickly. (I don’t care what anyone says a food processor just isn’t the same) and then fill up an empty salt shaker with ice water and have someone shake it into the bowl while you rotate the bowl and fluff the mixture rapidly with a fork. The goal here is to disperse the moisture as evenly as possible. I usually end up using about 6 tablespoons total water.
Next form the crust into a couple balls (obviously) and roll out your crust. Rolling a pie crust is an art that I don’t have space to get into here but maybe I’ll make a video one of these days. Fill with fruit, cover with the other crust, and bake anywhere between 50 to 70 minutes. Make sure there’s something below to catch the drips because you’ll know the pie is ready when it starts to bubble over and drip.
Wait, at least three hours for it to cool down completely! Eat.
This recipe also works with rice flour if you’re gluten free, but you will need to roll between wax paper. Enjoy!
Challenge: make this pie and share your opinion in the comments!
___
This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
See the original post and discussion here.
