Blueberry and Blackberry Pie (a recipe!)

I haven't always been the biggest fan of pies - either making or eating. I'm slowly coming around though. On average, I've made about 1-2 pies per year (cheated of course! Using pre-made crust!) and called that sufficient.

Earlier this week I went out and picked some gorgeous, juicy blackberries and decided I would attempt my first (real) pie this year.

I mixed together some leftover blueberries from our trip to Pennsylvania and a little over four cups of blackberries since my pie plate is a little on the large side. 

Added the sugar, cinnamon, lemon, and flour and proceeded to mix up the deliciousness! 

Yummy, sweet goodness! 

Roll out the dough. Pie crust is very intimidating to me, but I pressed onwards. Lots of chilled butter and sticking the bowl in the fridge while re-reading Julia Child's recommendation for pastry dough, which was most encouraging. To sum it up, she recommended handling the dough as little as possible and when touching it to use swift, light finger movements so the butter does not melt. Also, don't play with the dough too much when rolling it out. That makes it almost gummy and inevitably the butter will melt too much. 

Next I added the berries, making sure I got all the gooey deliciousness from the bottom of the bowl. 

Adding the top crust, some small pats of butter and some vent holes before this beauty is ready to bake. 

Sadly, I didn't get the opportunity to snap some pictures of this pie fresh from the oven. We had company over and the lighting was poor. This morning though, I snagged a piece of pie for my mid-afternoon snack. Just as delicious on the second day, which for me, was a record!

Recipe: 

Pie dough:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter

7 tablespoons shortening 

1/2 cup of water 

Filling: 

3 cups blackberries

1 cups blueberries

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons flour

Mix pie dough dry ingredients together then add 1/2 cup of cold water until blended. Wrap in a piece of wax paper and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour or up to 24 hours. Before you roll the dough, let it sit out for at least 10 minutes to warm up slightly. 

Mix filling together in a bowl. Set aside. 

Divide pie dough in half and set onto a floured surface. Roll out the dough, set it in the pie dish. Trim the excess dough and combine it with the second pile of dough. Place all the filling in the pie dish. Roll out the last of the dough, set it on the filling and decorate edges accordingly. Using a knife, poke several holes in the top. Add 1-2 tablespoons of cut butter pieces to the top of the pie. 

Bake for 45-60 minutes at 375 degrees. 

Let cool (if you can) and enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.