Blackberry Pie

Monday we celebrated Nathan's birthday. For his birthday dessert he asked for two blackberry pies. Blackberry pies have a history at our house. You see, when we were newlyweds I was going to make a blackberry pie for my husband. It is his favorite kind of pie and his mom used to make them a lot when he was growing up (they had blackberry bushes). So I make this pie and when he ate it he said, "It's okay, but it's not quite as good as my mom's." Ouch! (He says he doesn't really remember what he said. I do!) Not a good thing to say to your wife. So I never made him one since. We have laughed about this over the years but still I have had no desire to try to make a blackberry pie again. A few years ago my mother-in-law was going to show me how she made her pies. After we had already started her oven broke! That sealed the deal for me. No blackberry pies!

So this year when Nathan he said he wanted blackberry pies I was not jumping up and down. "Are you sure? My blackberry pies are not going to taste like your mother's," I told him. He suggested I get his mom's recipe. Why didn't I think of that? So I decided to be brave and give it another try. But let me tell you, I've never been so nervous about making a pie!

Here goes! First step is to thaw (if frozen) berries and collect the juices. Mine didn't give off much juice so I had to mash up some of the berries and add a little water. No big deal so far.
Then the berries need to cook with some sugar and cornstarch. So far, so good.

Pie crust is not one of my strengths. Even using my mother-in-laws recipe I still had problems with it. But at least I got something in the pan that resembles a pie.

Okay. Off to the oven to bake. Take a deep breath and a sigh of relief. the hard part is over. It smelled so good baking, I was hoping it would taste good too!

So here's the birthday boy with his pie. I had to remind him how much his wife must love him to make him not only one, but TWO blackberry pies!

Here's the moment we've all been waiting for. My blackberry pie critic takes his first bite. Did it pass the test?

Yay! It gets a thumbs-up! The only negative thing was that it was kind of runny. But the flavor was there and that's what really counts, right? Plus it firmed up after sitting in the refrigerator.

Finally, blackberry pie success! However, I'm not in any big hurry to make another one any time soon!