Last week, my dad and I took my niece Isla to Gnismer Farms by my parents’ house so she could pick some of her favourite food, sweet corn, for a bbq. Unfortunately when we got to the farm, they were all sold out of corn, so we decided to pick some blackberries instead. It was a lot of fun and we managed to find quite a few blackberries that were ready to be picked even if many of them had yet to ripen. I’m not sure what Isla thought of the blackberry picking experience, but she sure did look pretty cute carrying the basket and helping us pick the fruit.

Since we had the blackberries, I decided that I needed to bake a berry pie to celebrate our fun day and share our goods with the rest of the family. I decided on a Mixed Berry Pie with Ginger, Orange, and Almond Streusel. We had to use some store bought raspberries and blueberries to round out the filling, but I like to think that the pie tasted extra good because of our freshly picked blackberries.

In fact, my family enjoyed the pie so much that my mum suggested we make it again when we had some friends over for dinner a few days later. The combination of the fresh berries with the spicy granulated ginger streusel topping were to die for! I encourage everyone to make this pie for their loved ones this summer while all of the berries are still in season.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and stir with a fork until the mixture is evenly moistened, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if mixture is dry. Gather the dough into ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

Position a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 400¬?F. Place a rimmed baking sheet in the bottom of the oven to catch any possible spills from the pie. Roll out the dough on lightly floured surface to a 12-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Turn the pie crust edge under, forming a high-standing rim extending 1/4 inch above sides of pie dish; crimp edge decoratively. Freeze the crust while making the berry filling.

Since I’m still a little afraid of rolling out dough, I had my brother Andrew roll out the dough since he has turned into a budding pastry chef from making chicken pot pie a few times. Check out his killer pie crust:

Berry Filling:
3 cups fresh blueberries (17 ounces)
2 cups fresh raspberries (9 to 10 ounces)
1 cup fresh blackberries (5 to 6 ounces)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Gently toss the blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Mix the cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in small bowl. Add to berry mixture and toss gently to coat. Transfer the berry mixture to the pie crust, mounding slightly in center. Bake the crust and filling for 30 minutes.

Streusel Topping:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 cup sliced almonds

Blend the flour, sugar, crystallized ginger, orange peel, and salt in a processor, or with your hands. Add the butter; using on/off turns, blend the mixture until coarse crumbs form. Blend in the milk, so the mixture resembles moist coarse crumbs. Transfer the streusel to a medium bowl, and stir in the almonds.

Remove the pie and filling from the oven after it has cooked for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375¬?F. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the berry pie filling. Return the pie to the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown and the berry juices are bubbling thickly, about 40 minutes. Transfer the pie to a rack and let it cool completely.

Enjoy your slice of pie with some vanilla ice cream.