Homemade Blackberry Pie {with the Best Homemade Pie Crust}

I usually have a queue of about 7-10 days worth of food waiting to post on this blog, so even though I made this yesterday I had to post this recipe today in case anyone needs a perfect, fail proof homemade pie crust for Thanksgiving tomorrow! I used a combination of 2 pie crust recipes and it created such a thick, flaky , easy to roll and use crust, I have to share it. I think shortening is the best substance for a flaky crust but alone it doesn’t taste that great so you need a little butter to give it a better flavor. You can see below there is also a suggestion to use butter flavored shortening, if you have that on hand. I followed Paula Deen’s blackberry pie filling recipe for the insides. And you know, I think I created mine and my husband’s new favorite pie! He was raving about it all night.

Every time we visit my family in Seattle we head to my parents’ place on Whidbey Island and eat at the best little cafe called Whidbey Pies. These pies are the kind you dream about. They have every berry pie imaginable and they’re just perfect. Fresh farm berries and homemade crusts. Mitch and I love berry pies so for our pie night with friends I had to make one. Substitute any berries you’d like! The lemon zest is the key to bringing a great aroma and really making the flavor of the fruit.

The Perfect Pie Crust (adapted from A Bountiful Kitchen’s pie crust and Jenny Evans’ pie crust) – my notes or changes in italics:

• 2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. butter (chilled, chopped into cubes)
• 3/4 c. shortening (chilled. chopped into cubes)
• 1/2 c. cold cold ice water
• (egg wash for cooking (1 egg + 1 tbsp. water))

Mix flour and salt. Cut in butter and shortening with pastry blender or knives. Add water. Stir with fork until flour is absorbed and ball forms. (*Here I formed it into a ball, put it in saran wrap and chilled it in the freezer for about 10 minutes (or you can chill it longer in the fridge if you want to make it a couple hours or a day beforehand.) Dough is much easier to roll and handle when chilled).

Flour surface and rolling pin well. Flatten dough with hand to make round pancake shape. Roll out from center to about 1/8” thickness (I made mine a bit thicker—I love a thick pie crust). Fold in half, lift onto pie plate. Open and shape to pan. Crimp edges. Cut off excess dough. If baking for single crust pie needing baked shell, bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, lined with parchment paper and filled with dry beans so the crust retains its shape.

The more you handle the dough the less flaky it will be. Great tips below from A Bountiful Kitchen-she always has the best recipes!
**Hints**
-Dough will be easier to handle if chilled for an hour or so.
-You can cut a circle shape in the dough to make it easier to fit into the pie plate.
-Try rolling the dough around the rolling pin and then unrolling right onto the plate.
-Add as little flour as possible to get light crust (while rolling out)
-Try ½ regular and ½ butter flavor Crisco.
-Some people like to “cut” the flour in with their fingers.
-Don’t cut the flour and shortening too much, the pieces of shortening are what make the crust flaky.
-When making a single crust pie, place dry beans or macaroni into the bottom of the crust to weight the crust and keep it from puffing up.
-If your pie is getting too brown on the edges, take a piece of foil, fold in half to make a square then cut a half circle out of the middle. Unfold and put over your pie.
-Brush beaten egg white over your pie dough before filling with pumpkin to avoid soggy crust.

Blackberry Pie Filling (adapted from Paula Deen’s recipe here):

• 6 7 cups blackberries (I added 1 extra cup of blackberries—I wanted the berries to be really full in the pie, and it was the perfect amount)
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 batches homemade pie crust (above) or 2 disks of store-bought pie crust (the store-bought ones have a great consistency but they’re so thin. Try to make it if you can—it’s really easy!)
• (As noted above—egg wash for top: 1 large egg + 1 tbsp. water)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F with a baking sheet on the middle rack. In a large bowl, toss the blackberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and lemon zest. Let stand, mixing and coarsely mashing occasionally, 20 minutes.
Fit one round of dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim the edges, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Refrigerate while you continue. Cut the remaining piece of dough into approximately eleven 11/4-inch-wide strips.
Spoon the blackberry mixture into the pie shell. Arrange the dough strips in a lattice pattern on top of the filling and trim the strips close to the edge of the pan; roll up and crimp the edge. Lightly beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush on the top and edge of the pie.
Place the pie on the hot baking sheet in the oven and bake until the filling is bubbling, 45 minutes to 1 hour (Mine took about 1/5 hrs. to get the bottom all the way cooked. I have a clear glass pie pan so I would look under to check if the bottom was cooked—after 1 hr of cooking loosely place a piece of aluminum foil on top of the pie so it doesn’t get too brown. Then the rest will keep cooking so the bottom is done). Let the pie cool before serving.


I think pies are best about 4-5 hours after cooking. This one only had about 2-3 hours after cooking and it was still a little warm and gooey. This morning the texture was much thicker. Try to make it early if you can!   Just before going in the oven:


In the oven, about to put the foil over the top: