Julie’s Blackberry Pies

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Served with Kool-Whip mixed with Blackberry Jam and Topped with Blackberries

Perhaps Eaten with The Cranky Bastard Blackberry Wine

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When I think of a pie, Mother Goose always comes to mind:

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Julie’s 4 and 20 Blackbirds Baked in a Pie

The Pie Ingredients

Ready Made Pie Crusts

I like to make things easy, and thawing out ready made pie crusts is one way that I do it.  I find that they are a tasty shortcut.  I just thaw them out until I am able to ply them easily from their aluminum pie pans without hopefully tearing the dough.  And if I do happen to rip the dough I can always smoosh it back together with my fingers. 

I first sprayed a little cooking oil spray into the bottom of my pie plates.  I then placed my pie crusts down into my pie plates and used my fingers to mold the dough to the plates.

I then used a fork to punch holes into the dough so that it won’t bubble up.

Now set them aside for now.

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Fresh Blackberries

Blackberries are in my blood. 

I cannot tell you how many blackberries that I have picked off bushes throughout my life, especially my youth.  But there were quite a few.  Growing up in Georgia I went with my family on many a vacation, trip, visit, outing, weekend getaway, Sunday drive, etc.  And on quite a few of those trips we would always come across wild blackberries growing on the sides of roads, hiking trails, camp sites, and even in our own backyards in some of the places that we lived.  We always used whatever we had with us in order to collect them.  Cups, bowls, napkins, hats, t-shirts….  and anything else we could find that would hold them.

We would then bring them home with us and my mother and step-father, usually the next day, would set to work baking a cobbler.  They didn’t make many pies, and neither do I, they were more cobbler people.  Same with me, except I don’t bake much of either anymore.  But, when I saw these delicious and huge blackberries I knew that I wanted to bake a pie, or two.  So, here is my recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

Julie

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THE RECIPE

I would like to state and I am making 2 pies here but I will only list the ingredients for 1 pie.

Ingredients:

(To Make One Pie)

Ready Made Pie Crust

(Found in the freezer section of your grocery store.)

A Few Cups of Fresh Blackberries (Or as many as you like.)

1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 t. Ground Cinnamon

Sugar Free Blackberry Jam (A few spoonfulls.)

Fresh Lime and Lemon Juice (A few Tablespoons.)

Zest of at least one Lemon or Lime

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Pie Topping:

Pre-made Pie Dough

(Found in the frozen food section of your grocery store.)

Some butter bits for the top of your pie.

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This was fun, easy, and delicious.

You will need a mixing bowl.

Place the dry ingredients into the bowl…..

the Sugar, All Purpose Flour, and Ground Cinnamon

Whisk the Dry Ingredients Together

Now add as much Blackberry Jam as you like to the dry ingredients.

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Now squeeze the juice of half a lemon or lime into the bowl…

Stir Together

Now add in as many Blackberries as you like to the mixture.

Stirring Together

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350F Oven

In a 350F oven I am placing my pie crusts in to cook for about 5 minutes.  I do this because I think the pie crusts won’t be as ‘doughy’ as I sometimes taste when I eat a pie.  You can omit this stage if you like.  This is just something that I prefer to do.

After 5 minutes I remove them from the oven.

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The Pie Filling Is Almost Ready to Place Into my Pie Plates

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It’s at this point that I am adding the zest of a lemon. 

You can also add more lime or lemon juice if you think it might need it.

Now Comes The Fun Creative Part

This is a ready made pie dough that you can buy in the frozen foods section of your grocery store.  It comes in a long rectangle box that has about 2 of these inside of it.  They come rolled up.  I thawed one out and I am using a tool that I found in a drawer to cut out whatever shapes or patterns that I want.  This will go on top of the pie.  You can use whatever tools that you like.  Cookie cutters, a knife, etc….

Scroll Down To See My Pie Patterns

(The rolling pin that you see in the photos above I didn’t need to use. 

I just got it out in case that I would have to rework the dough.)

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Now It’s Time To Place the Mixture Into the Pie Plate

Make Sure You Get Every Delicious Drop!

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Spreading Everything Around in the Pie Plate

Here is where I had some fun in placing the designs that I made in pie dough.

Oh, and be sure to add a few pieces of butter to the top of your pie.  Like I do above in photo right.

Microwave Selfie  🙂

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400F OVEN

I upped the oven to 400F and placed my pies inside to cook.

Place them onto a baking sheet.

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I cooked the pies for about 15 minutes to start.

I then removed them from the oven and covered each with foil and then placed them back into the oven to finish cooking for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Then I removed them from the oven to allow them to cool.

The total cooking time depends on your oven and perhaps how brown that you want your pie topping to be?

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When I was using that tool that I found in a drawer I loved the jagged edges of it and as I cut into the dough some of the extra pieces just looked like puzzle pieces to me.  I think a future pie that I may do, I would want to place all over the top what looked like puzzle pieces. 

Next time.  🙂

The pie came out so nice and clean.  Not runny at all.

  I credit that to the Blackberry Jam that I added.

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As always, I like some sort of topping whether it be Sugar Free Cool-Whip or Ice Cream.

Here I placed some lemon juice into the jar of Blackberry Jam to loosen it up.  I then placed a blob of the Jam in with some Cool-Whip and swirled it together.

Beautiful and Delicious! 

Now Dollop Atop a Slice of Pie…

and add a Blackberry.

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Julie Lancaster-Whann