Description
This blackberry pie is flavored with warm and spicy bourbon and a dash of allspice. It's a perfect sweet and slightly spicy fruit pie that's ideal for any time of year!
Ingredients
Scale
For the pastry:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup cold bourbon
- 1/4 ice water
- 1 egg for the wash
For the filling:
- 5 cups blackberries
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1 large egg, beaten and granulated sugar for topping the unbaked pie
Instructions
- Start by making the pastry. Add the flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor and pulse and few times to blend everything together.
- Add in the cubed cold butter and pulse until the butter is lima bean-sized. Add the bourbon and water and mix just enough so it lightly comes together. It will still look loose but will stick together when you squeeze a chunk of it in your fist.
- Pour the dough out onto a well-floured surface and lightly knead until it forms a disk. Divide it into two equal disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour.
- While the dough is chilling, start the filling. Combine the blackberries with the sugar, allspice, lemon juice, bourbon, and corn starch. Stir and let it sit for a least 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and roll out one of the disks until it's about 1/8 inch thick—place in a 9-inch pie pan. Lightly pierce with a fork, pour in the blackberry filling (but don't overfill; you may have extra if you use a disposable pie pan), and chill until needed.
- Roll out the top layer. Slice the dough into 1-inch wide strips and weave the crust strips on top of the pie. Pinch the top and the bottom layers together to seal them.
- Brush the egg wash over pie crust, then sprinkle with sugar.
- Place the pie on top of a baking sheet with a layer of foil or parchment underneath and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake the pie for 45 minutes -1 hour more, or until the crust is golden and the strawberry filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 4 hours.
Notes
- Use cold or frozen butter. Cold butter helps create air pockets in the dough, which helps creates flakey layers. Room temp butter will thoroughly blend into the dough and not make those layers.
- I use a food processor to make my pie crust pastry; bakers much debate this method. Pie crust pastry gets its magic from adding just enough water for it to hold together, and it's easier to tell how much water is needed by mixing it by hand. It also is easier not to over-mix the dough when it's done by hand. But it is also a lot more work.
- To make sure you don't over blend the dough, pulse the food processor a few times and check the butter crumbles' size. You are looking for lima bean size chunks. When it looks ready, grab and handful and squeeze it together; if it forms into a dough, it's ready!
