Apple, Blackberries and Elderberries Pie

Easy as delicious piece of pie
Ever since I have moved to Romsey, my weekends have indeed been more creative and involve being out in the wilderness more often. Although I do miss being at Southampton, closer to friends and University, I haven't really missed out on any socializing, but in fact been on more adventures than ever... So, this weekend has been highly productive for me...  How you ask? Well, here's what I did:
  • Took a walk in to the Mottisfont orchard and then into the forest.
  • Foraged for fresh fruits including apples, blackberries, elder berries and raspberries.
  • Made a scruptious pie to treat myself for all the hardwork! 
As easy as PIE... Yup, an incrediby productive weekend indeed!

Ready to chomp... om nom nom!

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE exploring, be it travelling to a whole new continent, or just walking into the nearby woods, and more so, foraging while wandering through the woods. And what else could be better than creating something beautiful from the foraged forest treasures? So yeah, I made a lovely pie out of all the fruits foraged...

My freshly foraged treasures!

Ingredients:

For sweet crust
  • 3 cups of plain flour
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 egg (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1.5 sticks of cold butter
Pie filling
  • 3 apples, sweet or brambly
  • 2.5-3 cups of blackberries and elderberries (i used all of my picks)
  • 3 tablespoon of castor sugar
  • 2 tablespoon of plain flour

Process:

  • Wash the fruits well and pick the berries off the stems. Make sure there are no bugs and raw berries in the washed lot.
Washed and ready to go...
  • Pre-heat oven at 190 degree Celcius. Mix flour, butter, egg and water to a soft dough to make the pastry. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  • Roll out using a rolling pin onto a tart/pie dish and press it down. Trim the excess dough and set aside for top.
  • To make the filling, peel, quarter and chop up 3-4 apples. Microwave in full power for 3 minutes until tender. You could also tenderize apples in a sauce-pan, but the microwave slightly speeds up the process since berries bearly take much time.
  • In a saucepan, add the berries, apples, flour and sugar and cook until a thick jammy consistency is attained. Using a wooden spoon, stir the jam often but it is also alright to leave a few berries intact. 
  • Athough it is the berries season now, meaning the ripe ones would be deliciously sweet, it is possible to also get some sour ones in the lot. Just add more sugar if the jam is too tarty (acidic) to your liking.
  • Fill the pie base with the apple-berries filling. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out into thin 1cm wide strips. Top the pie with the dough strips in a criss-cross fashion. You can use the normal top as well if feeling too lazy or don't have enough time.

  • Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes. The crust will turn light brownish. Let cool and sprinkle with castor sugar.
  • Now, serve up warm with custard, ice-cream or whipped cream! Yum yum!!!
Pie <3
One for me, one for you!

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