The best blackberry pie is one made from berries you have spent time picking.  Choosing all the ones that are just right, and leaving the others for another day, or for the birds.  You may get a scratch or two, but it is so worth the pain.  We use sticks with hooks on the ends for grabbing the long vines that are out of reach but laden with heavy purple fruit.

When we built our house, we left a clump of Himalayan blackberries in the dog yard, for easy picking.  In planning our chicken runs, we ran double fences with a 2’ no-man’s-land strip, which the blackberries have filled.  Easy picking from two sides.  Although there are lots more on the property, these two areas quickly provide a pie’s worth of berries in about 15 minutes.

We dry pack them in plastic bags for the freezer, I make unbaked pies also for the freezer (to be baked later in the winter), and fresh pies just because it’s summer and we should be enjoying them!         Click here for printable version.

Ingredients

1 recipe of prepared Basic Pastry dough for a 9” 2-crust pie (using 3 c of flour)

4 c blackberries

1 c sugar

¼ c cornstarch

1 T lemon juice

1 T butter

Sugar to dust

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°

Before rolling the crust, prepare the berries.

Whisk together the sugar and cornstarch.

Drizzle the lemon juice over the blackberries and gently mix.

Add the sugar mixture to the blackberries and mix until completely absorbed.

Roll out the bottom crust, and lay it in a 9” pie plate.

Spoon all of the blackberry mixture into the unbaked crust.

Cut up the butter and scatter over the top of the blackberries.

Roll and cut out the top crust.

Brush the rim of the bottom crust with a bit of water.

Lay the top crust over the blackberries, gently fitting it close to the berries.

Gently press the top crust to the dampened bottom crust along the rim.

Cut away any extra dough right up to the edge of the plate.

Press the edges together with the tines of a fork.

Slit the top of the pie with a sharp knife, in a pattern.

Dust the top of the pie with sugar.

Bake on a parchment lined sheet in the center of the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 375° and continue baking for another 40 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling.

Let cool before cutting.

Note: you can use frozen berries.  Just thaw them in a single layer on a baking sheet before proceeding.