Blackberry Lavender Pie is a combination of sweet-tart blackberries baked in a lavender infused buttery flaky pie crust. The two flavors perfectly compliment each other. And with culinary lavender, and availability of fresh frozen blackberries, you can enjoy Blackberry Lavender Pie any time time of the year.
Why Culinary Lavender?
Culinary lavender is food grade lavender grown and harvested without pesticides. In the harvesting process the bitter part of the lavender is removed (stems, leaves, etc.). Basically, if it is not labeled as food grade, I wouldn’t put it in my food.
And as far as choosing Blackberry Lavender, I actually experimented with scones first (that’s another blog post another time). They were such a hit, it was time for pie.
How Much Lavender and How To Use It:
This is the 2nd most important tip about using lavender in baked goods. A little goes a very long way. The basic rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender to 1 cup flour in recipes. Too much lavender can taste soapy rather than more floral, user beware.
Chop up the lavender a bit to break it up so you don’t get a full on “LAVENDER” bud in any bite. This will help disperse the lavender. I usually chop the lavender I am using and add it to the sugar or flour that will be used in the recipe and let it sit covered overnight.
Below is the pie crust dough before adding water. Grated butter, shortening, a touch of sugar and chopped culinary lavender.
For Blackberry Lavender Pie today, I decided to do a lattice top. I love the extra touch of a pretty pie topper at times. Roll out slightly less than half of the pie dough for the bottom crust and trim the edges and set aside.
Grandma’s Pie Crust is my go to recipe for all pastry crust pies. It’s a perfect blend/ratio of flour and fats (with a tiny bit of leavening, sugar, and salt). Making it into lavender crust is simply adding chopped up Culinary Lavender (see recipe and instructions below).
Roll out the remaining crust and cut 6 strips about 1-1/4 inches wide to have them ready. Fill the bottom crust with the blackberry filling and layer/weave in the strips, starting with the middle (criss-cross). You will need to lift up strips to weave in others, just be careful as there will be blackberry filling on the strips that are lifted.
I used what is “technically” called a ravioli cutter, sometimes I use a straight-edge pizza cutter (KitchenAid); it’s totally your preference.
Trim the edges and brush the top with an egg wash. Bake at 375 F for 60 minutes. Don’t forget to put a parchment lined baking sheet on rack below pie to catch any bubbling filling.
Look at what you’re going to get to devour! It’s truly remarkable how the flavors intermingle into the perfect berry dessert.
Now I was so excited about the lavender crust, I didn’t take pictures of the blackberry filling. However, here are some tips for frozen vs fresh blackberries and a pic of some of my pre-frozen blackberries from my garden I used.
Fresh or Frozen Blackberries for Pie?
After having a long conversation with a previous pie shoppe bakery owner (he retired after 40 years, great guy); frozen is terrific. Besides, the berries you get in the winter travel quite the distance to get to your grocer, depending on where you live. I am in Oregon, berry heaven, so I freeze a TON of berries when they’re ripe. My pie shoppe guy explained, frozen berries are at their peak when preserved in freezer. I felt so validated as I was always afraid to admit I used frozen berries.
There is no need to thaw the frozen berries either, just add an extra 7 to 10 minutes or so of baking time so they can thaw and then start really baking.
Happy Baking Day to you all! Have some fun in the kitchen!
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Blackberry Lavender Pie
Blackberry Lavender Pie is a perfect complimentary flavor duo of sweet-tart blackberries baked in a lavender infused buttery flaky pie crust.
8
servings30
minutes1
hourKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Lavender Pie Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons culinary lavender, chopped up a bit
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, grated
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cold water
1 egg, plus 2 tablespoons water (egg wash)
- Blackberry Pie Filling
5 cups fresh or frozen blackberries or Marionberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons Clearjel or tapioca starch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
zest of half a lemon
dash of salt
Directions
- Lavender Pie Pastry Crust
- The morning of pie making, or the night before, chop up the culinary lavender buds (not mincing) and toss them into the 2 tablespoons sugar for the pie crust recipe. Cover with a lid and let sit until ready to make pie crust.
- In a large bowl, stir the dry ingredients together with a large tine fork: flour, sugar with lavender, salt, and baking powder.
- Add the grated butter and toss around to coat in dry ingredients. THEN add in the shortening and cut it in with the fork or pastry cutter until crumbly and pea-sized pieces of butter/shortening. (It’s okay if some of the butter is still visible as grated strands.)
- Add the cold water all at once and stir with fork just until the dough comes together.
- On a floured surface (I like to flour on parchment for easy clean up), roll out just a little less than half the dough and line a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edges and add extra pieces to remaining dough to roll out for top crust.
- Roll out remaining dough and cut six 1-1/4 inch wide strips with pizza cutter or decorative cutter. Set strips aside.
- Pie Filling, Assembly & Baking
- Preheat Oven to 375 F.
- In a large bowl, toss the frozen or fresh blackberries with sugar and starch of choice. Fold in the lemon zest and lemon juice and place mixture into the prepared bottom crust.
- For the lattice top start with laying on the 2 longest strips of dough, one vertical and one horizontal in the center. Continue with the other four pieces, lifting strips to layer and weave into lattice.
- In small separate bowl, beat the egg with water for the egg wash. Gently brush under edges of overlapping lattice pieces around edge of pie and brush top with remaining egg wash. Sprinkle extra sugar on top if desired.
- Bake at 375 F for 60 minutes. Check at 50 minutes and If the top starts to darken too much, loosely cover with foil to prevent burning.
- Remove from oven and let cool for about 1 hour before serving.
Recommended Products
Culinary Lavender Buds(food grade lavender)
Glass Pie Pan
Rolling Pin-FarberwareRolling Pin (Farberware)
Wavy Edge Cutter(ravioli cutter)
Pizza Cutter(KitchenAid)
