The cutest apple and blackberry pies you’ll see this autumn

Following on from Friday’s pumpkin spice latte extravaganza, I thought I’d roll with the vibe and do a spot of autumnal baking. I found some apples near my mum’s house and went rummaging in the bushes for blackberries and set about making some of the cutest apple and blackberry pies you’re going to see all autumn.

Take a look if you don’t believe me:

WHAT DID I TELL YOU?

I had a very lovely time indeed fiddling about making leaves and what not, ignoring the fact that we are actually having a heat wave and it was 26 degrees outside. It’s September dammit! I had a pumpkin spice latte! I should be in tights by now.

Anyway, if you want to get into the autumnal vibe with me, here’s what you need:

• One medium cooking apple (can be found near my mum’s house)
• A good large handful of blackberries (I collected mine in a dog poop bag. Optional.)
• A blob of honey
• A generous sprinkle of cinnamon
• A sheet of ready rolled shortcrust pastry
• A beaten egg for brushing

If you’re on Instagram, you can watch a video of me making them here. Otherwise you’ll have to follow my instructions and use your imagination.

Chop the apple into small chunks and put it with the blackberries, honey and cinnamon into a saucepan. Simmer until softened. Cut circles from the pastry – I used a cutter about 10cm diameter – and blob the apple and blackberry mixture onto half of them, leaving a gap around the edge. Brush this edge with egg and pop another circle over the top. Seal with a fork.

Make a dent in the edge of each pie to make the bottom of the apple. Cut out leaf and stalk shapes with the pastry offcuts and stick them to your pies. Stab each with a knife to let out the air as they cook and brush all over with egg.

You should end up with pies looking something like this:

Were you close? I felt like I was playing that game where you describe a picture to someone and they try and draw it from your instructions and your boat ends up looking like a Dali. I like this picture though. I almost didn’t want to cook them, they looked even cuter like this.

Pop them in the oven at about 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes. A friend on Instagram said you’re better cooking pastry hotter, but I pretty much cook everything at 180 degrees as a sort of cooking standard, a bit like how I also wash everything at 40 degrees. Everyone does that right? I honestly don’t know why washing machine makers bother with all of those different programmes. Surely no one ever uses the ones that say things like ‘shirts’?

Be careful about eating them straight from the oven as they are HOT. I recommend a splosh of cream or a blob of ice cream.

If you like the look of these pies, why not save this post for later? I made the image below for Pinterest. Belle said it looked like an ad for something my sister would buy from Dunnes, which I took as a compliment, whether or not she meant it as one. You should also check out some of my other cute bakes, like these homemade party rings.

Get snuggly under a blanket, splosh a little pumpkin syrup in your coffee and tuck in.