Our Muddy Chief Natasha shares her family foraging adventure and her favourite blackberry and apple pie recipe.
While in Somerset last weekend, we headed off on an adventure to pick blackberries, inspiring us to make a homemade Blackberry and Apple pie.
This time of year is perfect for creating this recipe, with ripe blackberries bursting from every bush. One of the best things about collecting and foraging for wild fruits is that everyone has a part to play, no matter how big or small an adventurer you are. One of the other wonderful plus sides to foraging is that a snack is always readily available! It's such a terrific way to keep your young explorers having fun outdoors for hours on end, whilst also working as a team and learning about the beautiful wilderness that surrounds them. There is also lots of opportunity to be super silly and fun, as you can see by the creation of the 'Saucepan Hat' After our foraging, it was the kids turn to turn from foragers to bakers with the impressive produce they collected on their adventure.
How to make Blackberry and Apple Pie Ingredients:
- 1kg apples, peeled, cored, halved and sliced
- 400g blackberries
- 140g unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 90g caster sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 270g plain flour
- 2 pinches of salt
- pinch ground cinnamon (for taste preference)
- Lemon Zest (for taste preference)
- Small cup of milk
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
- Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and rub in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Mix in the sugar, lemon zest, egg yolk and a splash of milk to form a dough.
- Knead the dough lightly.
- Spoon the apples and blackberries into a shallow 1.2ltr/900ml dish, then sprinkle over sugar to taste.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, large enough to cover the pie.
- Place the pastry over the filled pie dish, then seal and flute the edges.
- Glaze the top of the pie with a little milk, then bake for 40-45 mins until golden.
In true style, the pie was completely eaten before we got a chance to photograph it, and admittedly so, this was down to us adults alone! It looked and tasted absolutely delicious, I can promise you that!
