Seasonal Chapters: blackberry

We are fortunate to have a combination of wild berry bushes as well as berry plants that we intentionally planted in our yard. Each year we anxiously wait for the fruit to ripen.

As the berries start to reach maturity, we make a point to check the plants frequently...otherwise we often loose some of the fruit to various garden visitors.

This week we were finally able to harvest a bunch of ripe fruit at the same time, so I decided to make a mixed berry pie. It was scrumptious so I wanted to share the recipe.

Mixed Berry Pie

Ingredients:

~double pie crust (I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust for this recipe but you can make one from scratch if you prefer)

~6 cups of various berries (I used fresh from our garden but you can use frozen, just defrost and then drain them first)

~1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

~zest from 1 lemon

~1/4 cup flour

~1/2 cup sugar

~1 egg

~1 Tbsp milk

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and position a rack in the middle of the oven to bake the pie on (I used a 10 inch pie dish, and my pie did not bubble over, but I have had berry filling drip out of the pie in the past so you may want to slip a baking pan on a lower rack to catch any juice that overflows.)

Line your pie dish with one layer of your pie crust dough.

Combine the berries, flour, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice into a large bowl and stir gently until combined.

Pour the berry filling into the bottom layer of your pie.

Place the top layer of crust on the pie, crimp the edges of the two layers together and make 4 slits in the top of the pie so that it can vent while baking.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk together and then brush the egg wash on the pie.

Bake the pie at 425 degrees for 20 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 35 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and have thickened.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.