Baked Sunday Mornings: Blackberry Pie

Baked Sunday Mornings challenged us to bake the Blackberry Pie from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented for this Sunday's challenge.

I've been making a lot of pies lately, so I wanted to make this one different somehow. I thought about making a tiny pie but I didn't have a tiny pie pan. I searched through the "make me" category in my google reader for a little inspiration.

Stef from Desserts for Breakfast provided just the inspiration I needed. She created these gorgeous blueberry rhubarb deep-dish pies. The pies were baked into small springform pans, which allowed for more filling to be piled in. Plus, if Stef considered her pie breakfast food, I figured mine could be too.

Fourth of July recipes have been all over food blogs recently, so I decided to make my own contribution. After rolling out the top pie crust, I took a star cookie cutter and cut out tiny stars. I layered the stars so that the points were overlapping slightly (a Martha Stewart suggestion). A quick egg wash bound them together, and a sprinkling of raw cane sugar added a bit of crunch to the top.

I was worried the tiny stars might burn since the recipe called for an hour baking time, but they browned beautifully. The juices from the blackberries stayed underneath the stars, so they still look clean. I was delighted with the finished look.

I haven't released the pie from the springform pan or cut into it yet, but I plan to soon. I'll update with more pictures after the big reveal.

Visit Baked Sunday Mornings to view the recipe for this pie and to see all the other blackberry pies baked this week! Consider buying the cookbook and baking along with us!