Two days ago was my mum’s birthday. I meant to make the pie that day, but got distracted by having a new laptop (this post is brought to you by Aayla, laptop extraordinaire! Okay, maybe not extraordinary, but certainly exciting.)
I had to buy new berries today, the ones from two days ago were already completely bad (and incredibly fuzzy and hairy! YUCK!).
I bought fresh blackberries and raspberries, and found these exciting golden raspberries. They taste like raspberries, maybe a little less tart, but they’re golden yellow. They were more expensive, but I bought a package just for fun.
This is sort of a hit/miss pie as far as your tasters go. My mum chose this pie for her birthday because it is her favourite pie I have ever made (I believe it was the first or second pie I ever made too). A few months ago I asked my brother and his girlfriend about their favourite pies, and in addition to telling me their favourites, they told me they thought this one was disgusting.
Personally I think it’s pretty tasty. Maybe not my favourite, but definitely good.
I did some experimenting with thickeners and also with the crust on this one…
Filling:
4 cups blackberries + raspberries (you can split 2 cups each, or use a little more of whichever you like more)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup tapioca (this is new for me–a bit of an experiment since I’m not too crazy about how cornstarch has been treating me lately)
Crust lining:
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (this was a bar and a half of the baking bar I bought)
3 tbsp half & half
Crust:
Double crust – plain flaky crust – split into two discs, one a little larger
(I added a very tiny bit of almond extract to this crust–less than 1/4 tsp, just to be experimental)
Roll out the larger disc, invert into the pie pan. Gently lift the edges and tuck the pastry into the pie pan. Put pie plate with crust in freezer to help firm it up while you do your next step.
Chocolate:
Break chocolate up into squares and put in a small saucepan. Add half & half. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is smoothly melted.
Take out pie crust and pour chocolate into crust. Smooth into a thin layer in bottom and along sides. Return to freezer.
Filling:
Rinse blackberries and raspberries and put into a large bowl. Mash up berries (I use a potato masher). There can be some chunks, but get a good bit of smashing in.
Add sugar and tapioca and mix up well.
Set aside and roll out the second disc of crust. Cut into 1/2 inch strips.
Retreive crust from freezer. Pour in berry mixture. Cross dough strips across the top to make a lattice crust.
Bake at 400*F (I did this one actually at 405–I meant to do 425, but got impatient waiting for the oven to heat) for 45-50 minutes. The filling should be nice and thick! Be warned, this pie overflows, so make sure to put a baking sheet or foil underneath.
Let cool to room temperature and enjoy!
This pie turned out pretty well! It was served well before it was cooled enough (as is custom in my incredibly impatient family), and so was rather sloppy, but it seemed to taste fine. Though it was hard to tell with the hot pie semi-runny, I think the tapioca worked well as a thickener (better than the cornstarch on my last few pies!) and I would definitely use it again.
Kiwipie 
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