Blackberry and Apple Pie
Glorious weather, food and friends, it was a perfect weekend! Last week, an old friend of mine from my days at university came to visit us and I was so excited as we hadn't seen each other in years! She moved to LA a long time ago where I've only visited her once but a year ago she decided to head over to Costa Rica together with her family, so we're even further apart from each other now. When she finally stood at the door with her two children, I couldn't believe it! It was such a strange feeling to meet the little ones who I only knew from pictures and skype, but they felt so familiar. This is such a weird thing about the internet, you can be so far away and still feel so close!
Before the young family arrived I decided to bake, not only a cake but a pie, the ultimate sweet comfort food. I needed to calm down and nothing beats a pie in a situation like that! The result was a thin layer of buttery short crust wrapped around a juicy filling of apples and blackberries. I've made many apple pies in my life but this was the first time that I tried this English classic with the dark berries. They add a sweet juiciness and melt together with the apples to a very unique composition. It reminds me a bit of plums or pears but it's still different, they create a new taste which is hard to describe.
The fruity filling was so full of red juices that I was a bit worried about the pastry. For no reason, the short crust didn't soak it all up or get too soggy, it was still crunchy. It was all good, even more so, it was delicious! Just the first piece which I cut off impatiently when the pie was still hot was a bit soft, it's best to let it sit for a while which is almost impossible as it smells too good!
Apple and Blackberry Pie
For a 20cm / 8" springform pan you need
For the filling
sour baking apples (such as Boskoop), peeled, cored, quartered and thinly sliced, 600g / 21 ounces
blackberries, 200g / 7 ounces
granulated sugar 5 tablespoons
ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon
plain flour 2 tablespoons
For the pastry
plain flour 260g / 9 ounces
granulated sugar 1 teaspoon
a pinch of salt
ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon
butter, cold, 70g / 2.5 ounces
vegetable shortening, cold, 70g / 2.5 ounces
cold water 1 tablespoon
For the glaze
milk 3 tablespoons
granulated sugar 1 heaping teaspoon
For the pastry, combine the dry ingredients. Cut the butter and vegetable shortening with a knife into the flour until there are just little, crumbly pieces left. Continue with your fingers and quickly work the buttery pieces into the flour until combined. Add the water, continue mixing with the hooks of your mixer until you have a crumbly mixture. Form 2 discs, dividing them roughly 2:1, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (top / bottom heat).
Take the dough out of the freezer, put the smaller disc in the fridge and roll out the bigger one. Roll out a circle big enough to line the bottom and the sides of the springform pan, overlapping the rim about 1 cm / 1/2 ". Put the pan with the pastry in the fridge.
For the filling, combine the sugar and cinnamon and mix with the apples. Take out the pan with the pastry and fill with 1/3 of the apples, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of flour and add half of the berries. Add another layer of apples, 1 tablespoon of flour and the remaining berries and apples on top. Roll out the remaining disc, a bit bigger than the springform pan and lay on top of the apples. Gently push the sides onto the bottom layer of pastry, sealing it by rolling it inwards. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake the pie for 15 minutes, turn down the heat to 175°C / 350°F and bake for another 40 minutes or until the pie is golden on top. Take it out and let it sit for 10 minutes.
