Marilyn Batali's Blackberry Pie

I have made this pie twice by request, so it can't be that bad. The adjustments that I made in order to have a fuller pie are: 1.9 pounds of berries (frozen with juice drained), added cinnamon, about 1/2 c more of sugar, and salted butter. The crust was a different crust, too. It was done in 1 hour.

tl;dr : the pie is horrible to make, requiring recipe modification (see below re: cellophane & refrigeration), and its high-count 5-star rating is almost certainly fraudulent---though the pie itself tastes fine. I doubt I'll ever again make it.

I'm afraid I must partially agree with AshleyRamsey's review. (I've made three of these pies, so it wasn't just a one-off issue.)

1) Despite my having a fancy, non-stick rolling pin, as well as using flour to further reduce sticking, the dough was absolutely impossible to roll out without having it stick and rip apart. The only way I was able to succeed in the end was by rolling it out between two sheets of cellophane (which stayed in place through dough refrigeration and roll-out afterward, only being removed when the dough was being put in place in the pie pan).

2) Just following the directions provided leads to an end result that does not hold together for dish-up. It's more like blackberry cobbler than blackberry pie, by the time you pile the dismembered mess of a "pie slice" onto a plate. (I even let all my pies cool for much longer than directed.) Only one of my three pies seemed to hold together better than the others (i.e., properly), and I speculate that the reason was due to refrigerating it (which is not mentioned in the instructions at all, much less recommended).

3) I thought the pie itself tasted just fine---pretty good, really---but it was a pain in the butt to make and yielded frustrating results when simply following the directions. It's unlikely I'll ever select this recipe again.

NOTE: I'm pretty sure this recipe got "bot-rated-up". Look at the "review" pattern: this blackberry pie recipe has *massively* more reviews than any other, ALL its reviews (except AshleyRamsey's and my own) are 5 stars, and most are anonymous and made on exactly the same day (11/12/2020). This all sounds highly suspicious to me.

This blackberry pie was amazing! Though, I did substitute 1/3 of the blackberries with raspberries and instead of cooking it for 1 hour and 15 minutes I only cooked it for 45 minutes. If I had cooked it for the full time it definitely would have burned. But overall the crust was perfect and the flavors were right on point!

This was the worst pie I’ve ever made. The crust was impossible to handle (kept tearing and breaking, very difficult to handle and roll out) and once baked was flavorless and greasy. The proportions for filling to crust were way off and the pie was under filled. I’m not sure more filling would have helped, however, as the sugar and lemon used in the filling seemed to be just enough to detract from the “natural” blackberry taste while adding nothing to the pie. Overall a waste of ingredients.

Great pie that lets the blackberries shine! The simple ingredients in the filling make it thick enough without giving it that “gummy” consistency of canned filling. The tartness is perfectly balanced with the sweetness and crispness of the crust. If you don’t like tart, make sure your blackberries are ripe, reduce the lemon or add a little sugar. The crust can get burned on edges, so I would cover for at least the last 30 minutes. It took me a couple times to roll the crusts due to breakage, but I feel it was due to my inexperience and the dough rolled out just fine.

Sorry, but this was the worst pie I have ever made. Not enough sugar or flour in the filling, and the crust was like eating grease. Never again!

I would love to try this recipe. I am just a little suspicous because a lot of people said the filling was runny. I love how Food and Wine tells you how to make the crust while other food networks tell you to buy storebought.

Mine turned out perfect. When u rinse your blackberries pat dry to get rid of ezcess water and do not cover your pie when it comes out. Only cover with the mesh screens. Otherwise yes they get watery. This was super yummy.

This beyond a terrible recipe. I put the dough into the fridge for an hour and let it sit for 10 minutes like you said. Both pieces of my dough are ripping. I have never had a problem with it not sitting in the fridge. It should not have been put in the fridge to begin with. Please do not put recipes online if they do not work. Waste of my time and money....

Came out very runny - needs cornstarch in the berries in addition to flour.

Came out terrible. I let the pie cool down completely before cutting, because I heard cutting into a hot pie will cause the filling to run. But even after cooling it off, the pie filling was very runny and even worse. I'm going to try it again, but next time I plan to leave out the lemon juice completely and perhaps add a tad more flour to the filling. Many blackberries have a natural tartness to them anyway so adding lemon juice just made it way too sour. The crust came out great though.

I mixed blackberries and raspberries too.  Watery now, but will let it set overnight and I'm sure it will be fine.  Did lattice crust for the top.  My lattice brings new meaning to rustic.  Looks so good.  A piece of crust fell off.  Delicious.

I made this beautiful pie over the summer when friends were visiting  and received rave reviews.  I used a different recipe for the crust --one I always used that's similar --but the filling was just perfect.  Not too runny not too dry, just perfect. Thank you for sharing your mothers great recipe!

I read that tapioca will be a better thickener than flour, so I will use that and let you know how it works.

Here is my turnout of this recipe. The crust was the hardest part. I ended up using saran wrap on top and bottom of the dough, then used a rolling pin and that helped somewhat. I stll needed to patch up some parts, as you can tell by the picture. I didn't have a glass pie bakeware so I used ceramic and I only cooked it for 55 mins. Can't wait to take a bite! Gonna go ahead and give it a 4 star even before I taste it. :) I like that it only called for 1/2 C sugar.

Trying this tonight but I will have to mix blackberries with raspberries! I heard this from a friend and they said it would taste better! :)

I don't know what I did wrong but mine came out very watery. I have followed your recipe but it didn't turn out as I have expected.

Trying this right now and currently putting the pie in the oven! I hope this turns out good! :)