Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Blackberry Pie

   We have a really long driveway, like a reeeaaaally long driveway.  All the way at the end we have lots of blackberry bushes.  So, the other day my dad and I went blackberry picking.  (I got covered in bug bites because it was later in the day and I was wearing shorts.)  We got almost two cups worth.  Then we went up to the garage where there are a couple more little plants and got like one more berry.


   I decided on making a pie with them.  I had a hard time finding a recipe that only required 2 cups of blackberries.  I eventually found one by searching "blackberry pie 2 cups".  wikiHow has a recipe that uses 2-1/2 cups blackberries which was as close as I could come.  I changed it slightly to accommodate the half cup less of blackberries and I added some spices and things because this recipe didn't call for ANY.  Here's wikiHow's recipe.  I got the ideas for what spices to add from simply recipes.  I don't have any instant tapioca and it calls for 5-6 cups blackberries so I didn't use this recipe directly.  But here is theirs if you're interested.

   I used Pioneer Woman's recipe for pie crust, which only uses shortening and no butter.  You can find it on her website here.
   After washing the berries out thoroughly, I put them in a saucepan with a cup-ish of sugar.  wikiHow said to let it cook in it's own juice (or add a little bit of water, so the berries don't scorch) but I didn't think that the berries would leak their juices as they go so I added some water.  It got really liquidy so I took away some of the water and then added back more sugar so I don't know any of the particulars.  If I did it again I would let them heat up and then see if they leak juice or what happens.  Then you take a 1/4 cup of water and dillute 2 TB cornstarch in it.  When the berries come up to a boil, take it off the heat and add the cornstarch.  Add a dash of lemon juice, and dash of almond extract and too much cinnamon.  Ooh that's cinnamony.  Then have your dad come look at it.  He thinks it's liquidy.  I think it's liquidy.  So I add a packet of unflavored gelatin and put it back on the heat.  Stir that in until it is intagrated.
   Bake the bottom pie crust 10 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  Put the pie filling in it.  Then see that there is way too little filling.  Oh well.  Take another pie crust and cut cute little parallelograms (google it) and put them on the pie.  Think later that you should have brushed some milk on the exposed dough.  Then sprinkle the top with sugar.  Turn the oven up to 375.  Wait until it's preheated.  Put the pie in the oven then turn the heat down to 325 and bake for 25 minutes.
   Let it cool.  Eat the next day cuz you cooked it to late in the evening.  It tasts good.  Your sister will then think it's not sweet enough and will add honey to hers.  Whatever.  It is so sweet enough.
   The finished product is not too cinnamony.  It tastes good.

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