Baking

Best-Ever Apple & Blackberry Pie

This delicious pie has all the fruits and flavours of autumn! And it also includes what Darina Allen calls her 'break all the rules pastry' recipe, which is made by the creaming method, rather than rubbing in the butter. Remember to leave time for the pastry to chill!

20 minutes, plus 2 hours pastry chilling time prep, 1 hour cook

Serves 8-12

Ingredients

For the break-all-the-rules pastry:

225g butter, softened

40g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

2 organic, free-range eggs

350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 organic, free-range egg, beaten with a dash of milk

For the filling:

600g Bramley cooking apples, peeled and cut into large dice

110g blackberries

150g granulated sugar

To serve:

Softly whipped cream

Dark soft brown sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. To make the pastry, cream the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor. Add the eggs one by one and beat for several minutes. Reduce the speed and mix in the flour slowly. Turn out onto a piece of floured baking parchment, flatten into a round, then wrap and chill. This pastry needs to be chilled for at least 2 hours otherwise it is difficult to handle – better still, make it the day before.

Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick, then use about two-thirds of it to line a 18 x 30 x 2.5cm square tin or a 22.5cm round tin. Fill the pie to the top with the apples and blackberries and sprinkle with the sugar. Cover with a lid of pastry, press the edges together to seal. Decorate with pastry leaves, brush with the beaten egg mixture and bake for 45 minutes–1 hour until the apples are tender.

When cooked, sprinkle lightly with caster sugar, cut into pieces and serve with softly whipped cream and sugar.