Rustic Farmhouse Apple and Berry Pie Recipe

I always like to incorporate a lot of handmade details in my styled parties, but this time around I was also in full prep for Bird's Party Magazine Fall Issue, and hence my shortcuts - Instead of a fancy decorated cake, I opted for a farmhouse-style, rustic fruit pie for my kid's Barnyard Birthday this year. I'm no Nigella, so "rustic" is the operative word here! ;)

I got the original recipe from the BBC GoodFood website for Apple and Blackberry pie, but I modded it slightly and used frozen raspberries instead, and used ready-rolled sweet dessert pastry to save time (and sanity).

Rustic Farmhouse Apple and Berry Pie Recipe

Ingredients for your Farmhouse Apple and Berry Pie: Serves 8

* 2 Tbspoons of flour + extra for dusting

* 750g/1lb 10oz sweet dessert pastry (I used 2x shop bought ready-rolled pastry packs)

* 1kg Bramley Apples, peeld, cored, and cut into chunks

* 400g Frozen Raspberries or mixed berries of choice

* 140g Caster sugar + extra for sprinkling

* Pinch of Vanilla Bean powder (or paste)

* Pinch of Cinnamon

* Pinch of Salt

* 1 egg beaten with 2 tbsp milk

2) Microwave apples on high for about 3 mins. Mix vanilla and cinnamon with sugar and add it to apples along with the berries, 2tb spoons of flour, salt and pile onto the pastry case base. save a few berries for later.

3) Roll remaining pastry and trimming together and cut out 8 strips of pastry of about 3 x 30cm - I used a ruler as guide. 

4) Weave the strips over the fruit to create a lattice, then push them into edges of tart. Trim overhang, brush with egg wash, then scatter generously with sugar. Pop the berries into the gaps and bake for 1 hour until brown and bubbling. Leave pie to cool, and scatter with more sugar.

It went down a treat with everyone, and  dare I say, better than cake that gets left over on most of our parties! :)