Great Bloggers Bake Off: Apple & Blackberry Pie

I was really excited about Pie Week on the Great British Bake Off… then bitterly disappointed when I found out it was fruit pies, not meat pies. I like a good meat pie with gravy and mash, like my Pheasant Pie I made!

I have never made a fruit pie and am not really much of a fruit pie fan. However… I didn’t fancy making (or eating) custard tarts and filo pastry looked far too difficult! So, I give you… my first ever fruit pie…

Apple & Blackberry Pie

IngredientsPastry                                                             Filling
500g Plain White Flour                                  4 Large Bramley (cooking) Apples
50g Icing Sugar                                             50g Salted butter
100g Caster Sugar                                        100g Caster sugar
250g Salted Butter                                         150g Blackberries
2 Free range eggs                                          1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Method
1. Sieve the flour and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor
2. Add the butter in small cubes and the caster sugar
3. Process on fast until you have a mixture resembling breadcrumbs – This should only take about 40 seconds.
4. Add the eggs and process for about 20 seconds, or until you have a ball of dough.
5. Wrap the dough in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Put the butter and sugar in a saucepan on a gentle heat to melt.
7. Peel, Core and thickly slice the apples, then add to the saucepan.
8. Simmer on low for 5 minutes

9. Add the Blackberries & cinnamon and simmer for a further 3 minutes.
10. After the pastry has chilled for 30 mins, roll out half of it on a floured surface and place in the bottom of a large pie dish.

11. Spoon the fruit mixture into the pie dish.

12. Roll out the other half of the pastry and place on top of the pie, crimping the edges with your fingers.
13. Add any pastry decoration to the top of the pie
14. Bake at 175 degrees (fan assisted) for 50 minutes.

So here’s the thing… my pie turned out to be blooming good. Jonny and Bunny, who claim to hate blackberries – both ate some!

Amazingly – My pie didn’t have a soggy bottom either! It was nice and crispy.

The only negative on my pie, was that I used a rubbish pastry brush to paint milk over the top which left my pie with a streaky uneven colour. I also left it in the oven for an hour instead of 50 mins by accident, so the edges were a little brown.

It tasted really good with some custard. I still prefer a good crumble to pie though!

Linking to The Crazy Kitchen and Mummy Mishaps for the GBBO linky.