humble pie

There are moments in life when a simple (and sincere) "I am sorry" may be enough, then there are others that require a little extra effort. This is a recipe for all those instances where you should eat humble pie...and serve up a slice of sweet, berry pie goodness for everyone else!

Humble Pie

Pastry
- 1 1/2 cups (250g) Plain flour
- 125g Butter, chilled & chopped
- 1/3 cup Raw caster sugar (regular caster sugar will work just as well and gives a slightly sweeter crust)
- 1 Egg yolk
- 3 tabsp Chilled water

Berry Compote
- 3 cups Berries, of your choice (I used frozen berries *gasp* in a mixture of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries)
- 1/2 cup Raw caster sugar
- 3 tabsp Cornstarch

1. Combine flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl, add chopped butter and rub mixture between fingers until the consistency of bread crumbs (or sand, as my mother would describe).Add egg yolk and mix. Add chilled water a tablespoon at a time, until dough forms. Gently knead until smooth. 
2. Roll dough between baking paper sheets, into a 1cm thick disk. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
3. Combine 2 cups of berries and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring to boil and reduce to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes. Add cornstarch and gently stir (so you don't break the berries too much), simmer for a further 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat to cool.
4. Preheat oven to 200degress celcius and lightly grease a 20cm pie dish. Remove pastry from fridge. Divide into 2 parts - 1 x 1/4 & 1 x 3/4 - roll larger portion of pastry out to 3mm thick disk and gently place into pie dish. Place baking paper and pie weights or uncooked rice on top, bake for 12 minutes. Remove paper and weights, and bake for a further 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool.
5. Roll out the remaining pastry into a rough rectangle, 3mm thick, and slice into 1/2cm wide strips.
6. Add the remaining berries to the cooled compote and gently mix together. Spoon into the pie base and create a lattice across the top. Sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar and pop in the oven until pastry is golden. Remove, allow to cool...or serve immediately with double cream or plenty of vanilla icecream!

ENJOY! xx

Notes:
* Apart from the fact that we don't own a processor, I enjoy making this pastry from scratch and with my own hands. The time and hand cramps will all be worth it, I promise!
However, if you have a processor: combine flour, sugar and butter and pulse mixture until it appears like bread crumb, then add the egg yolk and water as above, pulse again until if forms a dough.Knead and chill.
* It's hard to give a definite simmering time for the berry compote so these times are really a guesstimate. I prefer a thicker filling, especially as I was wrapping these pies for gifts, so I let it simmer longer and even add a teaspoon extra cornstarch until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon. If you prefer it a little runnier (perfect if you're eating fresh from the oven with icecream!) simmer until it thickens slightly but still drips off the spoon.
* I divided the pastry into 4 equal portions to make smaller pies (in 12cm pie tins) and used the off-cuts from trimming the edges to create the lattice across the top. Alternately you could create leaves, flowers or cover the top with a disk of dough and slice a couple of vents in the top to allow any hot air to escape.

*How to create a lattice top pie crust 
*A little pie crust inspiration