This wonderful blackberry pie features fresh berries and has hints of cinnamon, lemon and almonds. Don’t forget to top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
I visited the library not too long ago and found a new cookbook – it was centered around Louisiana cooking. Being a fan of Cajun food, I immediately picked it up and started reading it. My family and I enjoyed flipping through the pages and finding recipes to try.
We ended up making two of the recipes – a crawfish lasagna roll-up (that we substituted with shrimp, since it’s hard to find crawfish around here), and a stuffed catfish over spaghetti (which we had to use halibut for since the store didn’t have catfish).
Once we got to the dessert section, my husband’s eyes immediately went to the blackberry pie. That particular recipe included some hard-to-find ingredients, so I told him that I’d make him another version. And here we are.
I intended to make this pie using frozen blackberries, but our store was out. We went shopping the day before a snowstorm (not on purpose – the storm happened to fall on our normal shopping day). Sadly, the store was out of many ingredients, including frozen blackberries. So, we used fresh blackberries instead.
However, the pie was still fantastic, and maybe even better than one with frozen berries. The crust was buttery and flaky, and I loved the lemon, cinnamon, and almond flavors in the background. Addie, being a non-blackberry fan, was not as thrilled with this pie as my husband and I were. I think to make this pie even better, I would sprinkle on some coarse sugar on the lattice top for a contrasting texture and bit of extra sweetness. Otherwise, it was just about perfect.
Husband’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 3 out of 5 (she is not a fan of blackberries)
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Blackberry pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter cold, cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 6-8 Tablespoons ice cold water
Filling
- 5-6 cups fresh blackberries if using frozen, do not thaw
- ½ to ¾ cups granulated sugar I used ¾ cup because my blackberries were on the tarter side
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 4-6 Tablespoons corn starch, all-purpose flour, or tapioca flour I used 6 Tablespoons of all-purpose flour
Instructions
Make the crust
- In a food processor or in a large bowl if mixing by hand, pulse together the flour, salt, and sugar.
- Slowly add the butter and pulse until your mixture has small pea-sized crumbs.
- Slowly drizzle in the water and continue pulsing until a rough dough comes together. You don't want your dough to be too wet, so add a little bit of water at a time.
- Roll the dough out into two round discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. I recommend chilling for more than 2 hours so the crust doesn't shrink during baking.
Make the filling
- While the dough is chilling, make the filling.
- In a large bowl, toss together the berries with the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, almond extract, and flour. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
Assemble the pie
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Set a standard pie plate on top of a baking sheet (preferably one that has high sides) and set aside.
- Roll out the pie dough so that it is about 2 inches wider in diameter than your pie plate. Place it in your pie plate and allow the excess to hang over the edge.
- Transfer the pie filling into your pie plate. Smooth out the top as best as you can.
- Roll out the second dough disc and either make a lattice top or cover the pie filling completely (if doing the latter, make sure you cut some slits for ventilation). Make sure you pinch the top and bottom dough together to seal. Pinch or flute the edges if desired.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, turn down the temperature to 350°F and continue baking for another 30 minutes. If your crust starts to brown too quickly, cover the top of the pie with a sheet of aluminum foil.
- Allow the pie to cool before slicing and serving.
Notes