My daughter recently waxed lyrical on the wonders of autumn. One of her favourite things of the season she proclaimed, was a fresh blackberry apple pie. How could I not take this hint? My husband had picked fresh blackberries at our local park and picked apples from a friend's garden. The cupboard store provided the rest of the ingredients. First, the no-fail, easy pie crust that I use all the time. Directly in the pie tin mix 1.25 cups flour (I usually do a mix of self-raising & coarse), pinch of salt, about 1 tsp sugar.
In a measuring cup mix 1/3 cup sunflower oil with 1/3 cup milk, then pour into flour mix.
Stir around with a fork, mixing the wet & dry ingredients. If it seems too moist, just sprinkle in small amounts of flour, but a pliable consistency is more desirable than a crumbly one.
With your hands pull out about half the pastry dough and set aside (this will form the lid) and then mould the pastry to the form of the pie tin. (This is a very hands on process!).
Peel and chop the apple. I used 3 medium garden apples, but you can use a large cooking apple if preferred. I always soak the apples chunks in some lemon juice before adding to the pie.
Add the berries layer, some sugar (white or brown), more apples if you have them.
The lid is composed of a patchwork of pastry dough -- it can fall apart in your hands if the pieces you are using are too large so just a bit of patience is needed to cover the pie completely. Make sure to cut an "x" at the top, to give the juices an out (this may or may not happen). Years ago I was given the tip that sprinkling sugar on the top crust of the pie before putting in the oven eased slicing. This may or may not be true, but an extra bit of sugar in or on a pie never goes wrong!
Bake at 180C for about 25 mins, the crust will be golden brown. I usually leave the pie about 10 mins to settle before slicing. This is extra delicious with cream poured on top!
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