Individual Blackberry Pies
Who loves fruit pies in summer (emphatically raising both hands)? We always find fresh fruit at the farmer’s market or local market that makes us want to make all the pies. Our next-door neighbor gifted us a lot of blackberries recently and the first thing we thought to make was Individual Blackberry Pies. We prefer to make small, individual pies rather than one large one. They don’t get as soggy as quickly and it’s fun to have your own little pie! Plus you get more buttery, flaky crust in an individual pie.
Our recipe calls for making your own crust – we use this recipe and double it (see double recipe below). You can also buy store bought crust (two crusts) and divide it into four portions. We love Leadbetter’s French Picnic Pie Crust in the freezer section, if you can find it.
If you can’t find fresh blackberries you can substitute raspberries, marionberries or a combination. Throwing in some cored and quartered strawberries would also be delicious!
We prefer to serve these pies warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream but they are just as good at room temperature.
We have these individual pie dishes and we love them! (ours are quite old so may look a little different) They are perfect for individual blackberry pies as well as individual chicken pot pies. And Shepard’s pies. Well, any pie you want to make in an individual serving. They are perfect in every way.
We hope you try our recipe and enjoy all the fresh fruit!
Jump to Recipe
We love these individual pie dishes!
Mix the berries, sugar, flour and lemon juice together and allow to sit while you roll out the dough.
Roll dough disks out to 1/4″ thickness.
Place pie dish upside down on rolled dough and cut circle with a sharp knife adding 1” all around.
Place the pie dishes on foil lined baking sheet.
Gather dough scraps and roll out again, cutting into 1/2″ wide strips about 6″ long.
Divide berry mixture evenly among dough lined pie dishes.
Place strips of dough in a basket weave pattern over tops of each pie.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, covering with foil if the crusts become too brown.
Allow to cool a bit and enjoy!
Individual Blackberry Pies
Equipment
- You will need 4 small pie or tart pans that measure 5-6” across the widest part. Large ramekins will work, too.
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour plus extra for rolling
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 2 sticks 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes
- ¼ - ½ cup ice cold water no ice
- Filling:
- 6-7 cups fresh blackberries we use three 12-ounce containers
- ½ cup granulated sugar less if your berries are ripe and sweet
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Finishing: Optional:
- 1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar
Instructions
- To make the crust:
- Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined.
- Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 more times. You should have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal, with many butter pieces the size of peas.
- Slowly add ¼ cup of ice-cold water (without the ice!) to the food processor bowl and pulse several times. Then add more ice water, slowly, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing several times after each addition, until the mixture just barely begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again.
- Use your hands to press the crumbly dough together and divide into four equal-sized disks. Work the dough only enough to just bring the dough together. Do not over-knead or your crust will end up tough.
- You should be able to see little bits of butter, speckling the dough. When these bits of butter melt as the crust cooks, the butter will help separate the dough into flaky layers. So, visible pieces of butter are a good thing, what you are aiming for, in the dough.
- Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
- (At this point you can freeze the dough for a month until ready to use. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)
- To make the pies:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Remove the dough disks from the refrigerator and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes to take enough of a chill off of it so that it becomes easier to roll out.
- Mix the berries, sugar, flour and lemon juice together in a bowl. Let the berries sit while you roll out your crust so they can form a bit of a syrup.
- While the dough disks are still wrapped in plastic, warm the edges with your hands. If there are any cracks in the dough, massage them to close them.
- Place the dough disk on a lightly floured, clean flat surface. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk.
- Roll each disk out into a circle of ¼” thickness (it will be bigger than your pie dish). Turn your pie dish upside down in the middle of the dough circle and cut around it 1-inch away from the edge of the pie dish. Place in individual pie/tart pans and gently press into place. Trim edges even with the edge of the pie dish if necessary.
- Take trimmings and bring together into a disk. Roll out and use a pizza cutter or bench scraper to cut out strips ½” wide and about 6” in length. Set aside.
- Divide the berry mixture evenly between the pie crusts.
- Place the strips of pie dough over the top of the pie in an overlapping basket-weave pattern. Trim the strip ends so they are even with the edge of the pie dough. Press the ends gently into the edge of the pie dough.
- Brush the crust with the egg mixture and sprinkle with the demerara sugar (optional).
- Place the pies on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet (in case the filling bubbles over).
- Bake for 35-40 minutes. If the crusts look like they are getting too brown, cover with foil for the remainder of the bake time.
- Place pies on a wire cooling rack and cool for 30 minutes for a warm pie or 2 hours for room temperature.
- If you have any leftovers, they can be stored covered in the refrigerator.
Looks lovely! Can’t wait to try this out myself.