Few things are better than a scoop of warm peak of season fruit pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. From the first bite to when you finish your plate, everything is good. This recipe is incredibly simple, and adapted from one of my favorite vintage cookbooks, The Pepperidge Farm Cookbook by Margaret Rudkin. Part memoir and cookbook, the recipes are autobiographical, spanning from her childhood, to her time on the farm, to her Irish ancestry and love of antique cookbooks.  This recipe for deep dish pie was inspired by her times picking plump blackberries at her family home in Ireland, and it immediately captured my imagination. You can switch out the blackberries for any fruit you’re fond of, but try to pick something with a pleasant, high acid high sugar balance, like ripe blueberries or yellow peaches, cherries, or nectarines.

INGREDIENTS (FILLING):

6 cups blackberries

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cream

1/2 recipe pie dough

1 egg plus 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450F

In a large bowl, toss together the blackberries, sugar, salt, cinnamon, cornstarch, and cream. Pour into a deep baking dish, about 9 x 13 inches.

Roll out the pie crust on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick, and seal the top of the baking dish. Use a fork to poke vents into the crust.  Mix together the egg and water until smooth, and brush over the pie crust.

Place the pie into the center of the oven, and bake at 450F for 15 minutes, then turn down the oven 400F and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the crust is quite golden brown and any berry juice coming out is sticky and thick. Serve warm with plenty of ice cream.

INGREDIENTS (CRUST):

This is a double crust recipe, you can refrigerate for 3 days or freeze the other one for future use

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

8 ounces unsalted butter (two sticks), cold, cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

DIRECTIONS:

In a food processor or quickly using your fingertips, combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter until the chunks of butter are broken down to the size of peas and the flour feels like wet sand. Add the first 1/4 cup of water and mix until the dough comes together easily. It’s too dry if it immediately clumps apart. Add two tablespoons of water at a time, you can always add more water but not more flour, so careful not to add too much!

Gather the dough into two balls and plop them on top of two sheets of plastic wrap. Loosely wrap up each ball and press down, smooshing the ball into a disc about an inch thick.

Pop them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes while you busy yourself with the filling.