Rhubarb Blackberry Apple Pie

Alright, let’s do this. Welcome to my first blog post (YAY). Thanks for visiting and being patient as I build my recipe index. As you can see, I have a lot of photos of my food that don’t have recipes posted yet. Those are on their way.

Now, I’m just going to say that this pie definitely swayed me over to the pie side. I’ve always been a cake fan. Why? Because I love a good buttercream frosting. Throw something subtle in there to compliment the vanilla cupcake you’re about to eat and, oh my gosh. Aren’t you guys living this with me right now? No? Okay well, this pie took all those feelings about moist vanilla bean cupcakes with lavender frosting and made me forget about them for a while. AND, it’s vegan.

Okay so now you’re like, “Ehhhh, I don’t know about this whole vegan pie crust thing”. Well, think again. My cousin gave me the recipe for this crust and it does every non vegan crust you’ve ever tried justice and then some. Plus, you can never ever go wrong with fruit and sugar baked to perfection.

The inspiration for this pie came from my inability to plan ahead 4+ days. I was planning on doing a rhubarb pie for my cousin’s birthday earlier this summer, but did not buy enough rhubarb at the farmer’s market for even half a pie. Thus, rhubarb/blackberry/apple deliciousness happened and I’m so glad it did. You can also try to substitute other fruits if you’d like. Just don’t get too crazy, passion fruit and apple is not a thing people.

 

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Rhubarb Blackberry Apple Pie

Servings: 1 pie

Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) COLD vegan butter (I use Earth Balance but you can find others at your local co-op or Whole Foods)
• 1/2 cup COLD shortening
• 1/2 cup + 2-3 tsp of ice water
• 1/4 cup vodka (optional for flakier crust)

Filling:

• 2 cups chopped rhubarb (about 5 small-er stocks)
• 1 cup fresh blackberries **See note below for substituting with frozen
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 TBSP lime juice

Directions:

Crust (10 min + 30 min chill time):

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
3. Cut butter and shortening into small pieces and add to the dry mixture.
4. Slightly incorporate the fats into your flour mixture with a fork. You can also use your fingers to pinch the pieces OR place in a food processor and pulse until slightly crumbly.
5. Start with 1/4 cup of the cold water. Pour around the outside of the bowl and move the water inward towards the center with a fork.
6. Do the same for the remaining 1/4 cup of water. You can substitute 1/4 cup water for 1/4 cup of cold vodka for a flakier crust. I definitely recommend this step but it is not necessary. Recommended but not necessary.
7. Add the remaining 2-3 TBSP of water if needed. You want the dough to be just moist enough that it will stick together when forming a ball. If it gets too wet, add flour to the mixture 1 TBSP at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
8. Be careful about adding too much water. It is always better to start with less. There might be some chunks of butter/shortening if you did not use a food processor at this point but that is totally fine.
9. Form two equal size balls and place covered in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Filling:

1. Add all ingredients to medium sized bowl.
2. Mix together.

Forming the pie:

1. Take dough out of the fridge and place one ball on a lightly floured (and clean!) surface.
2. Roll out with a rolling pin so that the crust is uniform thickness and circular. To achieve this, I alternate the direction in which I am rolling and roll outward from the center of the dough. The circle of dough should be slightly larger than the pie tin.
3. Place dough into pie tin and lightly push against the surface.
4. Place fruit filling in the dish and spread evenly.
5. Now, you can either a) roll out the second half and place over the top of the pie or b) roll out the dough and cut into strips to make the criss cross pattern as I did.
6. If you are placing the second half on top (option a), then use your finger to apply water to the bottom layer of dough around the edges of the tin. This will help the two pieces stick together. Roll out the second half of dough, place over the fruit filling, and pinch together slightly at the edges. Cut 4-5 slits in the top layer to let heat rise from the pie. You may pinch the dough around the outsides of the pie for “aesthetic” purposes.
7. If you are choosing the criss cross (option b), you will want to use a long knife or pizza cutter to cut the dough into ½” wide strips. If you cut them thinner than ½” it is not the end of the world, you just have to do more overlapping. Place a quarter of the strips at one end of the pie leaving space for a strip in between each. Place a strip perpendicular to these and lay the remaining original strips in the same direction as the first quarter. Now, peel back the original pieces and repeat this pattern moving across the pie. Once you have completed this, use water to “adhere” the strips to the crust and remove the flyers on the end. Pinch where the top layer meets the edge of the bottom later.
8. Cover the outside of the crust with tinfoil or a pie crust cover to keep the crust from browning too much.
9. Bake for 40-50 minutes until crust begins to brown slightly.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before serving. Ice cream recommended.
11. Enjoy – and send the leftovers home with a friend if you want to save your waistline.

**You may substitute frozen berries in this recipe if you cannot find fresh. Do not thaw them ahead of time and increase the bake time by 10-15 minutes to account for additional moisture.