CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Last week a dear friend brought me a lovely, seasonal treat -- blackberries laboriously picked by her husband. It takes a lot of fortitude to harvest blackberries, whose branches are thorny and tend to mingle with poison ivy and to harbor snakes, so I wanted to do something especially delicious with the juicy, fresh berries.

First, I took the relatively safe and easy baking route and made a buttery cobbler.

Everyone at my house was lobbying for blackberry pie, but I don't bake many pies, and I hated the thought of wasting the precious berries in a runny filling encased in a unlovely piecrust. I searched for recipes and discovered a promising one on the website dianasdesserts.com, a site dedicated to home bakers.

Just last week, my mother-in-law, an excellent piecrust maker, told me how she spent an entire afternoon wrestling with piecrust she made from the same recipe she's used for years. After the third try, she realized that the expiration date on her flour had passed. It's the only explanation she could find for the frustrating failure.

With that story echoing in my mind, I slunk off to the grocery store and surreptitiously slid a box of refrigerated pie dough into my cart. Shameful, I know, but it would be dishonest to claim that I made the crust and it was wonderful. Besides, someone might have seen me at the store.

I'm including the piecrust recipe for the more confident bakers out there.

Diana seems to know her stuff because the filling was fantastic. The berries remained firm and juicy, but the pie slices retained their wedge shape when I cut them. With this kind of success, I might be inspired to try another pie, and maybe even piecrust.

But you know that refrigerated stuff isn't half bad.

Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.

Lattice-topped Blackberry Pie

Pastry Dough:

2 1/2           cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2           sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4              cup cold vegetable shortening

1/2              teaspoon salt

4 to 6          tablespoons ice water

Filling:

6                 cups blackberries, about 1 3/4 pounds

1 to 1 1/4     cups granulated sugar

1/4              cup cornstarch

2                 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2                 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2                 tablespoons water

1                 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca

1                 egg white, lightly beaten

1                 tablespoon coarse or granulated sugar

BLEND together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with rest in small (roughly pea-size) lumps.

DRIZZLE 4 tablespoons ice water evenly over and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in processor) until incorporated.

GENTLY squeeze a small handful. It should hold together without crumbling apart. If it doesn't, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring or pulsing after each addition until incorporated, continuing to test. Do not overwork dough or it will become tough.

TURN dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather each portion of dough and form it, rotating on a work surface, into a disk. Wrap disks separately in wax paper and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Filling:

PLACE a baking sheet in lower third of oven and heat to 400 degrees.

WASH and dry blackberries.

TOSS together berries, granulated sugar to taste, cornstarch, butter, lemon juice, water and tapioca. Let stand, tossing occasionally, 20 minutes.

ROLL out 1 piece of dough into a 14-inch round and fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Chill shell while rolling out top.

ROLL out remaining piece of dough into a roughly 16 x 11-inch rectangle. Cut crosswise into 11 strips with a fluted pastry wheel or a knife.

STIR berry mixture, then spoon evenly into shell. Arrange strips in a tight lattice pattern on top of filling and trim strips close to edge of pan. Roll up and crimp edge. Brush top and edge with egg white and sprinkle all over with sugar.

BAKE on hot baking sheet until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

CHECK pie after 45 minutes. If edge of crust is browning too quickly, cover edge with foil or a pie crust shield and continue baking. Cool completely on a rack before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Source:dianasdesserts.com