Raspberry Blackberry Crumb Pie

Raspberry Blackberry Crumb Pie

makes one 9" deep dish pie with a crumb topping. You are going to "blind bake" this pie. That means you are going to bake just the crust first, without the filling, to set it. This prevents a soggy crust and it is so worth doing. You will need a 9-inch deep dish pie plate, sprayed with a little Pam and some pie weights or dried beans.

Pie Crust

1-3/4 cup flour (about 9 ounces)

1 teaspoon sugar

1-1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons), cut into slices

1/4 cup ice water (approximately)

Place flour and sugar in a food processor. Pulse. Add about half of the butter. Pulse. Add the rest of the butter. Pulse until the mixture turns into coarse crumbs. Through the feed tube, slowly add the ice water and pulse until the dough gathers up into a ball. If it doesn't after a few seconds, add a few more drops of ice water until it does. Take the dough and flatten it into a disc and place it on a sheet of floured plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

For the Fruit Filling:

4 6-ounce containers (1/2 pints) of raspberries

2 6-ounce containers of blackberries

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

zest of one lemon

Gently blend all ingredients in a large bowl.

For the Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup flour (I like to use white whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup sugar (I like to use half brown sugar, half regular sugar)

1/2 cup butter, cut into slices

1/2 cup rolled oats

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well blended.

Assemble and Bake the Pie:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the pie dough between two sheets of plastic wrap until it's a little larger than your pie dish. Transfer to the pie dish (the easiest way to do this is to roll up the sheet of dough around the rolling pin, transfer the rolling pan to the pie plate and unroll). Gentle press the dough down into the pie plate. Crimp the edges decoratively and dock the bottom of the dough with a fork.

Line the pie with a sheet of tin foil. Place either pie weights or dried beans in the pie plate. Gentle press down the pie weights so they fill in the bottom of the plate. Bake for 15 minutes. Take pie out of oven and gently remove the sheet of tin foil with the pie weights. Place pie back in oven and back for another 15 minutes. Check the pie dough and, if you see any large bubble forming, spear it with a skewer.

Remove from oven and add the filling. Crumble topping over the top. Place a pie ring shield over crust or strips of tin foil, to prevent overbrowning. Place pie on baking sheet to prevent a mess in the bottom of your oven. Return to oven and bake for about 1 hour, until topping is golden brown. Do not let the crumb topping get too dark. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before serving.

The Italian Dish

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