Blackberry Pie Recipes Plymouth

Take advantage of nature's bounty with these easy, delicious recipes.

Fresh blackberries are absolutely delicious and not to be missed when the blackberry season is on. And if you have been canny enough to freeze a few blackberries, the season is always here!

Here are a few blackberry pie recipes to help you get lots of this fabulous fruit onto your dinner table. (One of them isn't strictly a pie - but it's an easy and delicious get out!)

Blackberries are rich in vitamin C and iron and have useful amounts of thiamin, niacin and folate. But there's no need to just eat them because they are good for you. A dish of fresh cooked blackberries in a pie can hold its own against many another more sophisticated dessert!

If you cannot find blackberries - or the time to pick them, you can buy them . They are doubtless good - but probably do not compete with the wild ones we pick ourselves!

Classic blackberry pie recipe

Ingredients:

1 - 2 pounds of blackberries

4 - 6 ounces of sugar, or to taste

a tablespoon of flour

good squeeze of fresh lemon juice

1 egg, beaten

a little milk

Method

Make a shortcrust pastry mix (see for a shortcrust pastry recipe) and set it to cool in the fridge or other cool place for half an hour.

Wash and clean the blackberries. Leave them to drain for a few minutes in a colander to remove any excess water. I always think it's best to wash blackberries because flies love them so and many track side picking sites are doubtless quite dirty.

Roll out about 2/3rds of the pastry and line a pie dish, making sure that there's plenty of edge for the top to attach to. Brush the pastry with a beaten egg and pop it into the oven for around 10 -15 minutes, or until almost cooked.

Put the blackberries and any other fruit you have selected into a pan and cook them lightly for 5 minutes, coating them with the sugar and flour. Just sift the flour and sugar onto them and gently turn them to prevent them sticking to the pan. (The purpose of the flour is to thicken the mix just enough to give a reasonably firm texture to the fruit mix. You can leave it out if you don't mind the pie contents being rather runny.) Try not to break the fruit. Switch off the heat. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Fill the pie dish with the fruit to a generous height and add the pastry topping. Seal the edges with a little brushed milk and pressure from the back of a fork. Brush the top with either the beaten egg or a little milk. Add a thin scattering of sugar if you like. Bake for approximately 15 - 25 minutes in a moderate oven (gas mark 4, 180 Celsius) until the pastry top is cooked.

Serve with cream, soured cream or fromage frais. Yogurt is also very good and fresh made hot custard is just straight out of the top drawer!

Blackberry pie recipes - the easy get out!

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