Lady Macbeth Blackberry Pie

July 12, 2014

Lady Macbeth blackberry pie | une gamine dans la cuisine

"To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't." 

                     ~ William Shakespeare (Macbeth, act 1, sc. 5,1. 63-6.)
This ferociously beguiling pie has a cunning sweetly-acerbic flavour; one berry-bleeding slice is not enough, it requires a second piece - served, preferably, with a messy scoop of semi melted vanilla bean ice cream.

Every drop of amaranth colored juice on a white napkin or meandering spoon was dramatic & stunning. Honestly, I could have spent two days taking photos of this pie under various forms of summer light and against a multitude of textures (it's intoxicating to have a subject that's camera friendly!).  The fleeting nature of seasonal blackberries made the entire affair all the more bittersweet...I'm too easily bewitched by things (circumstances) that have the fragile lifespan of a moth. 

Lady Macbeth blackberry pie | une gamine dans la cuisine

I LOVE pie. Cake is swell, especially when it's tender and sandwiched between layers of something-lemon-buttercream, but I feel as though cake has to be earned. Pie, however, can be enjoyed on special occasions and on a partly-cloudy Wednesday afternoon listening to St. Vincent & Chopin.

The recipe is black dress-basic and just as fetching. If you can't hunt down blackberries, feel free to rouge up the dance with raspberries instead. I used my favourite crust recipe; it's all-butter and perfect and cordial with a rolling pin. Pie crusts are subtlety personal...akin to a darling friend; when we feel comfortable enough around them to spill our juiciest of secrets, we return again & again. (If you have a beloved crust recipe, please use it in place of mine.) No matter what buttery shell captures your fancy, I know you're going to fall in love with this luscious pie. xo

Finally, I'd like to thank Ana (from blog milk shop) for the new blog design!! I'm still moving things around a bit but I'm already digging the new digs!

Note: If you would like to print (or share!) a recipe, please hover over the small + icon at the bottom right of each post.

Lady Macbeth blackberry pie | une gamine dans la cuisine
Lady Macbeth blackberry pie | une gamine dans la cuisine


Lady Macbeth Blackberry Pie
makes one 9-inch pie

for the crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup (that's 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes {Note: I cut the butter into cubes and let it freeze overnight in a covered bowl.}
6 - 8 Tablespoons cold half & half cream (or whole milk)

for the filling
3 cups black berries
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar (use more or less depending on the berries)
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

for making the crust happy and golden
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar


method
Prepare the crust: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, & granulated sugar. Add the cold butter cubes and mix until evenly coated.

Place everything into the bowl of a large food processor. Using several short bursts, pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal (it will look very dry). Transfer the mixture back to the large mixing bowl and place the bowl into freezer. Freeze for about 30 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the freezer and sprinkle about 3 Tablespoons of the cream (or whole milk) on top of the mixture. Use a wooded spoon, a rubber spatula (or your hands) to gently work the cream into the dough. Keep adding cream, one Tablespoonful at a time, and mixing, until the dough starts to form a ball (you might not need all 8 Tablespoons). Don't add too much cream - the dough should be cohesive and slightly wet, but not sticky. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it in half. Flatten each piece of dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. {Note: Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for three days.}

Remove one disk of dough from the fridge. On a very well-floured surface, using a well-floured rolling pin, roll the disk into a 12-13 inch circle that's about 1/4-inch thick. Gently place the circle of dough into a 9-inch pie plate - make sure it's centered, if you try to stretch the dough at this point it will shrink back in the oven. Trim the overhang to about 1/2-inch and tuck it under forming a neat edge; refrigerate while you prepare the top crust.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the second disk of dough into a 12-13 inch circle, use a small fluted fondant (or cookie) cutter and cut out as many shapes as possible (re-roll the scraps and continue to cut out shapes). Place pieces of cut out dough onto parchment-lined sheet; refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Remove dough-lined pie pan from fridge; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the blackberries, flour, sugar, orange juice and almond extract. Scrape berry mixture into crust, pressing down gently so it's even. Remove cookie sheet with cut-out dough pieces. Brush pieces of dough with beaten egg. Gently press shapes onto edges of crust, overlapping as you go; continue overlapping pieces over filling until completely covered. Dab pieces with beaten egg and entire pie with sugar.

Bake 45-55 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown. If the edges are browning too quickly, cover them with a loose foil tent or pie protector. {Note: some of the berry juice oozed out of the pie and onto my oven - if your pie looks like it will do the same, place the pie onto a thin cookie sheet and continue baking.} Remove pie from oven and immediately place onto a cooling rack: cool completely before serving with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

Lady Macbeth blackberry pie | une gamine dans la cuisine

37 comments:

  1. Such a stunning pie, I'm in love with the top crust - absolutely divine! I just picked up 3 baskets of blackberries today and have a recipe in the works with them but oh how I wish I had a nice slice of this pie to keep me company :).

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  2. Oh my! What a stunning pie! Love the little cut outs of dough and I can only imagine how wonderful it tastes! Nice post!

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  3. A splendid pie! I have a soft spot for blackberries, especially the wild ones...

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  4. You are so talented. This is the prettiest pie I've seen in a long time, and it doesn't hurt that blackberries are my one true love when it comes to berries. I can understand why you wanted to keep it around and just take photos of it forever, but I bet that first bite was worth it.

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    1. Actually, I had a hard time resisting the blackberries; little vixens. ;-)

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  5. It appears something happened to your webpage. I can only see half of the post (the left half) and there is no place to print. It looks wonderful, but I wish I could read it. The big ads on the left side are hogging a lot of the space.

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    1. sorry about that, Linda, I just had a new theme installed. It looks fine on my end so I'm not sure what happened...I'll ask my designer about it next week.

      The print & share buttons are now located at the bottom right of each post - across from "labels." :-)

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    2. That's why I can't see them! I can't get to the right of anything. Sigh.

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    3. The new theme is set up so the posts are moved to the right (instead of straight down the center). I checked various browsers & devices; everything looks fine on my end but I'll still ask my designer about your issue. :-)

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  6. Simply gorgeous! I love berry pie. So pretty.

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  7. I love blackberries almost as much as I love strawberries. I can only imagine just how wonderful this pie tastes!

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  8. The new design looks great, as does this gorgeous pie!

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  9. The pie looks wonderful, and I appreciated the Lady Macbeth connection. I had visions of you spilling blackberry filling on your apron, and shouting, "Out, damn spot" as you tried to wash it. Am I right?

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  10. Oh, so beautiful!! That top crust is just stunning. Mmm...

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  11. That looks absolutely amazing, so pretty!

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  12. Look beautiful! I love blackberries!

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  13. Well it is almost blackberry time in our neck of the woods so will either make a blackberry pie or buy one but like the idea of making one as then I can control the amount of sugar in the pie.Excellent recipe.

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  14. can blueberries be used instead of blackberries?

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely! Blueberries would be ambrosial. :-)

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  15. I just wanna hit "print" and frame that photo!! LOOOOVE this pie!

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  16. I shall be going on a blackberry ramble as soon as the thorny creek beds whisper 'It's time!' If I make it back alive—those brambles are as well armed as the Macduffs and Macbeths combined—this pie will be more than just rewards for the bloodshed.

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  17. This is a seriously beautiful pie - I just can't stop staring at the colours created by things like blackberries, pomegranates, and raspberries, they are truly stunning!

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  18. This is why you're one of my favorite bakers, you are so creative :). I'm convinced I could eat pies like this one, for every day of my life. Also, the new blog design is really sleek, love it.

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  19. Pie is a wonderful thing. With all juicy summer fruit available, it's hard not to bake and eat pie every week.

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  20. i am definitely craving a slice right now, you can never go wrong with blackberry pie. seriously delicious!

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  21. What an absolutely gorgeous pie! Blackberries are my favorite berry, and my volume of Shakespeare is nestled among other literary treasures in my library. I see myself making this pie as I listen to some wonderful harpsichord concertos. If there were a Louvre for food photography, this photo would be the Mona Lisa.

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    1. What a luscious compliment, Ileana! Thank you. xo

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  22. Intoxicating pie, and a name that draws you in. Beautiful past.

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  23. This berry pie! Love both the look and sound of it. Blackberries are quite hard to find around here (and when you do find them, they're so expensive). However, I would love to try this with some other berries or even a mix, such as bilberries, strawberries, and raspberries; we call it the queen mixture here in Finland.

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    1. "Queen mixture," that's a perfect name for a flock of berries! Blackberries are expensive here too, even when they're in season. (I snatched up every pint in sight as soon as they were on sale!) :D

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  24. I agree with you that there's something so inviting about pie. Although, I hate to turn down cake either :) This pie looks awesome. Love blackberries!

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  25. This is so gorgeous. I keep looking at your pictures, feeling transported. xo

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  26. I've made this pie a few times, and it's so delicious! Something about the berry/orange/almond flavor combination is simply divine. I made it tonight with boysenberries and I'll eat it for breakfast tomorrow with my boys. I'm sure it'll be just as tasty as usual - it's such a go-to recipe for me now :)

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Thanks for visiting, and for taking the time to read through my ramblings!
If you have a recipe comment or question, I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Baking!
♥ Valerie

 

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