Apple & Blackberry Pie

When my boyfriend's mum commented on my earlier post about her blackberry harvest, I knew my apple and blackberry pie was on the menu for the coming days. The blackberries were delicious, sweet and not very tart which made for a sumptuous tart with sour eating apples.

And for once I wasn't lazy and made my own pastry! :) However the splodges you see from the pastry in the picture come as the pastry brush I bought melted as I was brushing oil in another dish. So when it came to brushing the milk over the pastry, I was too scary to brush too heavily otherwise I would break the pastry. This is also why I have cracks in my pastry as the milk pooled towards the edges and weakened the crust. Although it created a wonderful sweet apple smell as it cooked which made our mouths salivate during cooking.

I didn't cook the apples before hand which gave them a nice firmness so they could be picked up with a fork. I also didn't want too much sugar as I wanted the syrup to be full of flavour and a little light. My only problem was with the pastry itself as I used a combination of lard and butter, which works great for savoury pies but for this, I think I should have gone all out on the butter. I have adjusted my recipe below to reflect this. 

Ingredients
4 small eating Apples, peeled and cored
2 handfuls of Blackberries, washed
2 tbsp brown caster Sugar
55g Butter, chilled and cubed
1 cup Flour
3 tbsp cold Water
pinch of Salt
Brandy (optional)
2 tbsp Milk

Recipe
Cut your apples into 1 inch cubes and pop them straight into your pie dish. Add the blackberries and sprinkle 1 and a half tablespoons of sugar over the top. Add a splash of brandy for a boozy richness.

Make your pastry but sieving the flour into a bowl and tossing in the butter, salt and remaining sugar. If you have a food processor, you want to pulse them together until they turn to breadcrumbs. If not, use clean fingers to rub the butter into the flour until they form breadcrumbs. Then pour in the cold water, pulse until it comes together in the processor or mix together until a dough forms. Handle with care as you don't want to overwork the pastry.

Wrap the pastry in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. While you are waiting, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. When the pastry is ready, take it out, roll it to cover the top of your pie dish. Use any leftovers to make pretty patterns like leaves or letters over the top, go crazy! Brush milk over the top, put on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Eat as soon as it comes out of the oven, drizzled with cream, custard or enjoy on it's own.