Gelatin Free Blackberry Pie
Few desserts hit quite like a deep, jammy blackberry pie with a shatteringly flaky butter crust — the kind that bubbles up through the vents and fills your kitchen with the smell of warm fruit and browned pastry. Many store-bought or restaurant pies sneak in gelatin-based thickeners to set the filling, but this one relies entirely on cornstarch to do that job, giving you a beautifully sliceable filling with no animal-derived setting agents involved. The blackberries get tossed with lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, and sugar before going in, so every bite is bright, a little tart, and deeply fruity. The all-butter crust is built the old-fashioned way — cold butter worked into flour by hand, brought together with ice water — which means serious flake and flavor without any shortcuts. A two-stage bake at high then moderate heat ensures the bottom crust cooks through while the top turns a gorgeous deep gold. Letting it cool the full two hours is genuinely worth the patience, because that's when the cornstarch-thickened filling firms up into clean, glossy slices rather than a purple puddle. This is the kind of pie that earns requests every single time you bring it to the table.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
For the crust
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes and chilled
- 6–8 tbsp ice water
For the filling
- 6 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (about 2 lb)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
For the egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp whole milk
- 1 tbsp coarse sugar (optional)
Instructions
- 1
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 tbsp granulated sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Add the chilled butter cubes and work them into the flour using a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized butter pieces remaining.
- 2
Drizzle in the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork after each addition, until the dough just holds together when pressed — it should look shaggy, not smooth. Divide the dough into two equal discs, wrap each in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
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