Blackberry Pie (and Blackberry Mini Pies)

I have two confessions:

1. We ate the pie without taking pictures because,

2. The pie was ugly. I had never attempted a lattice-top crust before, and it was not a pretty sight. I felt badly about that, of course, the pie being for my roommate's birthday, and all. In spite of its unattractiveness, though, the pie didn't fail to taste wonderful.

After making (and eating) the pie, I had a little bit of crust dough left and a lot of filling. (I blame that on my small, Marie-Calendar-sized pie pans.) I probably could have sat there and eaten both (to my detriment), but I had a better idea: mini pies!


Please forgive the out-of-focus picture!



BLACKBERRY PIE
adapted from Elise at Simply Recipes

Ingredients

1 pie dough recipe for top and bottom crust
5-6 cups blackberries, rinsed, picked clean, patted dry (if you use frozen berries, defrost and drain them)
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Place blackberries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, almond extract, and quick cornstarch in a large bowl. Gently fold the berries until they are all well coated with sugar. Let sit for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F. You should have two balls of pie dough, one for the bottom crust, one for the top crust. Roll out one of the balls of pie dough on a lightly floured surface to 12-inch diameter if you are using a 9-inch pie pan, or 13-inch diameter if you are using a 10-inch pan. Line the bottom of your pie pan with the dough. Chill in refrigerator while you roll out the bottom crust.

3. Roll out the second ball of pie dough for the top crust. If you would like to do a lattice top, weave the dough strips as described in How to Make a Lattice Top for a Pie Crust.

4. Spoon the berry mixture into the dough-lined pie dish. For a lattice top, weave strips of pie dough over the top of the fruit-filled pie dish. For a solid top, place the second rolled-out pie dough crust on top of the pie. Press ends of strips into the rim of the bottom crust. Use scissors to trim the edges to 1/2-inch from the outer edge of the pie pan. Fold the edges back over themselves and use your fingers to crimp to seal the edges. If you are using a solid top crust, score the top with a sharp knife to create air vents for the steam to escape.

5. Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven. Put a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any juices that might bubble out of the pie while it's cooking. Bake the pie in two stages. First bake it at 400°F for 30 minutes. Then place a sheet of aluminum foil over the pie to protect the edges and tops from getting too burnt. (A pie protector is quite useful here.) Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for an additional 30 minutes, until crust has browned and filling is bubbly.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Cool completely before serving.


BLACKBERRY MINI PIES
baking instructions from layers_of_eli

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of leftover dough, press into each well so that dough covers the sides. Spoon leftover filling into wells on top of crust (do not overfill). If desired, pinch off small pieces of dough from leftover dough to make mini lattice-top crusts. (The mini pies with lattice-top crusts will come out of the pan easier than ones with no crust.)

Bake for 20-25 minutes, covering the pan with aluminum foil if needed. After baking, remove from oven and let pies cool a few minutes before removing from pan. Let cool completely before eating (if you can wait).

I had enough leftover dough to make about four mini pies.