One more (blackberry) pie

Hello readers!

I apologize for another pie entry but this past week was Thanksgiving - the holiday of all holidays for pies! I mean, being thankful and gluttony (pies). So Elyse and I split up into our respective homes and starting baking away.

In light of the results of Elyse's crust-off below - I also used a butter based crust from the diva herself: Martha Stewart (I choose to overlook her jail bird period). For those of you that wonder what "corn meal" consistency should look like when cutting butter into flour, there she is. There is something so rustic about making pie crust. Given the spirits of the holidays, I already had a pumpkin pie sitting on the table, Elyse had the pecan down, so clearly fruit was left!

Hello you glistening beauties. I definitely spent a good amount of time running my hands over these babies and smiling at their untarnished very berry silhouettes.

 What's that? you want to go a little closer?

Are you dying yet? I certainly was. Dying. Butter crust? Gosh the flakiness practically jumps off into my mouth - no fork needed. mmm MMMM mmm. I am thankful for cameras, ovens, perfect berries, and chilled butter.

P.S. stay tuned for holiday cookies!!! (cookies!!!!!!)

Blackberry Pie
Adapted from epicurious

6 cups blackberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (optional)
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon sanding sugar

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Rinse out your berries (feel free to drool over their beauty while they're sitting in their colanders) and toss them in the granulated sugar, cornstarch, optional butter (for the coronary artery conscious) and lemon juice. Let it sit while tossing occasionally for about 20 minutes

Place berries into prepared pie crust (see recipe above) and then top with lattice crust on top - feel free to do a little or as much lattice as you'd like. Brush the top of your lattice with egg white and sprinkle with sanding sugar. For those of you that dont have sanding sugar and want to make this a.s.a.p, you can steal "RAW" sugar packets from Starbucks (I didn't just say that...but you can)

Bake on a baking sheet (fruit will spill over with cooking) to avoid mess in bottom of the oven for about 1 hour - 1 hour and 10 minutes. I also covered my edges with tin foil for fear that the edges would burn prematurely, it's usually a good idea if your pie is going to be baking for more than hour.

Cool before serving and while you're cooling, might as well go get some ICE CREAM! mmmMM this pie is scrumptious a la mode!

Enjoy!

**The original recipe called for tapioca to aid in the thickening process but I found the cornstarch works out just fine**

Sam