Blackberry-Apple Pie

I have been making this pie for about eight years now, and it’s my absolute favorite to share with friends and family around the holidays! I make a slight adjustment which is to add cinnamon and cayenne pepper in while the apples cook. I use a very light hand, especially with the cayenne because I don’t want to overtake the fruit, but it definitely adds the perfect amount of warmth. It’s also fun surprising people and letting them know you’ve put cayenne pepper in the filling just for them to love it! I do agree that the amount of apples is a lot, but I fill my pie with a mound that I think looks right, and usually always have enough leftover to make a tiny extra pie so I can taste test before serving the full pie!

This pie was absolutely exquisite, although my husband did make a couple of changes to the recipe based on reviews. He used only half the amount of apples and used all braeburns. He still used 12 oz. of blackberries and kept all the other filling measurements the same. The filling was divine! It was not watery at all, and had almost a creamy texture to it as opposed to a store bought apple pie with a gel-like consistency. The cheesy crust accented the filling perfectly. Everyone who tasted the pie could tell that there was something different about it, but they didn't know there was cheese in the crust. My husband used Cabot Seriously Sharp white cheddar cheese. Baking times were exact, and the pie really does look beautiful. He used an extra deep Emile Henry pie pan. Although this pie didn't win the pie contest he entered, I think it should have (and I made the winning pie!)

This was my first ever attempt at baking a pie. I don't think I fully realized what I was getting myself into (3 hour endeavor!). In the future I will break this up into 2 sessions and refrigerate the dough overnight. It was divine!! Here are my notes for anyone else who is going to try this pie. #1 don't go cheap on the cheese, it matters. I recommend Cabot's premium aged white cheddar. #2 I used a frozen berry mix (Cascadian Farms, @ Costco) and picked out mostly blackberries with a hint of blueberries. I did not use the rasberries. This mix will stain the apples when the boiling occurs and the whole inside of the pie will be red. Not at all like the picture. #3 I strongly recommend a foil-lined drip pan at the bottom of the oven. Like the other review, mine also bubbled over and made a mess. The drip pan saved us! #4 We cooled it for 1 hour were able to cut into it without serving pie soup. I served it warm with vanilla ice cream "a la mode." Perfection! enjoy.

There was way too much apple filling in this recipe for a 9 in pie. I made all of the suggested filling, but could only fit 2/3 of it in the dish and that was with a huge mound. For a normal shaped pie, should probably only use 1/2. The apple presence overpowers the blackberries. I recommend cutting back on the apples and/or adding more blackberries. Post-baking, the filling was very watery. All the juice from the apples came out and there was not enough flour in the filling or crust to absorb it. The crust definitely had a cheesy flavor. I think that may the bottom more doughy than typical crusts. After trying this, I still prefer an all-butter crust.

Tastes okay, but I thought that there was way too much filling for a normal 9" pie plate- it spilled over everywhere and made a huge mess. Could have filled two pies.

This pie is delicious, but time-consuming. My friend and I made this yesterday. It helped making it with two people because it was fun, and we divided up the tasks. I would make it again with her, but probably not by myself.