Buttermilk Blackberry Pie

 I don't typically make a lot of desserts just for us because, well, we will eat them all and gain a thousand pounds. Birthdays are a perfect excuse to whip up something special however! My mom is a huge pie person and loves buttermilk pies and blackberries so I decided to combine the two make this yummy confection for her Birthday last week! I was a little intimidated since I'd never actually made a pie before but it came out great and the pie pieces even held together in perfect little wedges when we cut them.

You can find the original recipe here, I just subbed blackberries for raspberries. I'll write out the recipe on this blog as well for anyone who wants to try it.

For the Crust

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

• 1/4 cup water, plus 2 tablespoons

For the Filling

• 1/4 cup blackberries

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• Salt

• 3/4 cup white granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 3 large eggs

• 3/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. Use a cheese grater to grate butter in to flour mixture (this is genius by the way! Such and easy way to make crust!), this works best if the butter is very cold. Using your hands, mix butter and flour mixture together until the butter resembles small peas in size. Add 1/4 cup water and mix with your hands until dough just holds together. Add the extra 2 tablespoons of water gradually if you need it to keep the dough together. Shape dough in to a disc and wrap in plastic, refrigerate for one hour. 

Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on a well floured work space until you get a roughly 14 inch round crust. Roll up on your rolling pin and unroll on to you pie tin to avoid breaking the crust. Trim the edges and crimp with your fingers. Chill crust in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Score the bottom of the crust with a fork and line the pie tin with foil. Add dried beans or rice to weigh down the center of the crust. Bake the crust at 400 degrees for  15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature. 

Meanwhile, you can start making the filling. Heat the blackberries in a small sauce pan with sugar for about 10 or 15 minutes, mushing with a spoon as you go, until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool. Combine eggs, salt, flour and buttermilk, and whisk until smooth. Pour the buttermilk mixture in to the cooled pie crust. Add blackberry mixture to pie filling in dollops and use a bamboo skewer (or something similar) to swirl the blackberries, making a pretty design. Be careful to keep the pie level as you put it in the oven to avoid messing up your pretty design. I also find it helpful to put foil around the edges of my crust to keep it from burning. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to forty minutes, allow to come to room temperature and garnish with fresh blackberries before serving. 

I thought the crust would be hard to make but it was actually pretty easy if a little time consuming. That trick of grating the butter worked wonderfully and I would definitely use it again.