Mixed Berry Pie with Cinnamon Crumble Topping

Make the dough: Stir the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl to combine. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter or two knives in a scissorlike motion to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly, with some bigger chunks of butter remaining. (You can also do this with your hands, pinching each cube of butter between your fingertips.) Don’t work the mixture so long that it looks like dough. Add the water and cream and combine with your hands to form a shaggy, crumbly mixture.

Dump the shaggy mixture out onto your work surface and gather any loose bits to form a big hunk of dough. If the dough is too dry to come together, add another tablespoon, and then a second tablespoon of ice water if needed, until you have enough moisture to form the dough into a ball; don’t add so much water that the dough is sticky or tacky. And do not work the dough on the counter as if you were kneading bread dough. This will result in a tough crust (the opposite of flaky in the pastry world).

Use your hands to shape the dough into a ½-inch thick disk. (This gives you a head start when rolling it out later.) Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight to rest and chill.

Make the filling: Combine the sugar with 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan (preferably with a light-colored bottom so you can see when the sugar colors) and stir with your finger to make a sandy mixture. Cook over medium heat, swirling the pan so the sugar cooks evenly and using a wet pastry brush to remove any granules of sugar from the sides of the pan (otherwise they’ll burn and make your sugar bitter), until the sugar syrup is a light caramel color, about 5 minutes.

Add the blackberries. When you do this, the sugar will immediately harden. Don’t be alarmed! Just keep cooking until the sugar melts, stirring as it becomes feasible to stir, until the blackberries begin to lose their shape and all the solid bits of sugar have melted, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Remove about ¼ cup of the syrup from the blackberries and put it in a small bowl. Add the cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla and cinnamon and stir to dissolve any lumps. Add this mixture to the pot with the berries. Stir to combine and cook over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid starts to thicken. Turn off the heat.

Combine the remaining berries in a large bowl. (If the strawberries are enormous, cut them in half or quarters.) Add the cooked blackberries, making sure to get all the syrupy goop out of the saucepan. Fold the raw berries into the goopy blackberries and refrigerate for about 1 hour (or as long as overnight) to chill. (You can put this in the freezer to speed up the process, but make sure to set a timer so you don’t forget the fruit there.)

Roll out the dough: To roll out the dough, first, note that the goal is to work quickly so the dough doesn’t warm up in the process. Have flour handy for dusting the dough, and have a 9-inch pie dish close by; as you are rolling, keep in mind that you are lining that pie dish, so your goal is to roll it into a ⅛-inch-thick roundish shape that is at least 2 inches larger than the top (wider) side of that dish, around all sides.

Lightly dust a flat work surface with flour. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on the floured surface. Place your rolling pin in the center of the circle of the dough. (I like a French rolling pin, which has tapered edges and no handles. It’s easier to gauge how much pressure you’re putting on the dough and feel it stretch out under your hands. Using a rolling pin with handles, the tendency is to just roll back and forth as if you were rolling paint onto a wall — but you are not painting a wall. If you only have a rolling pin with handles, pretend the handles aren’t there and rest the palms of your hands directly on the pin.)

Applying gentle pressure, roll toward the top of the circle, feeling the dough gently stretch out under the rolling pin. Return the pin to the center position and do this a few more times as if you were working your way around a clock, adjusting the pressure and the angle of your rolling pin and rotating the dough as needed to roll the dough to an even thickness. Dust underneath the dough, the top of the dough and the rolling pin lightly with flour whenever the dough is sticking and when you rotate it. (If the dough gets warm and difficult to work with — if it is sticking and ripping — transfer it in whatever state of rolling it’s in to a large baking sheet and throw it in the freezer to firm up; then start again.) Place the pie dish upside down on the dough and make sure it’s at least 2 inches larger all around. If not, gently roll the dough until it is.

Line the pie dish with dough: Wrap the dough around your rolling pin and place it over the pie dish. Unfurl it so it drops into the pan and center it on the pan. Don’t stretch the dough to fit; instead, lift the edges of the dough as you let the dough drop into the dish. Use the knuckle of your index finger to gently press the dough into the creases of the dish. Use kitchen shears (or any clean scissors) to trim the edges of the pie dough so about 1 inch of dough hangs over the rim of the dish.

Fold the excess dough under itself to create a lip around the edge of the pie dish. Use the thumb and index finger of one hand and the index finger of the other hand to pinch and push the lip of dough, creating a pattern all around the pie. (You can also crimp it with the tines of a fork. This is purely decorative. Do what you like!)

Put the pie shell in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 1 hour to chill. (Chilling the pie shell helps it retain its shape when it’s baked. It’s also a great way to prepare ahead of time.)

(You can discard the scraps of dough. Or if, like me, you are antiwaste and pro-buttery, crunchy, sweet-salty snack items, gather the scraps into a ball, refrigerate to chill, and reroll. Cut the dough with a cookie cutter, brush the shapes with milk or cream, sprinkle them with sugar or cinnamon sugar, put them on a baking sheet and bake them until they’re golden brown.)

Make the crumble topping: Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl and stir with a whisk to distribute the salt and baking powder. Add the butter and mix it in with your fingers until all the butter is covered with flour but the mixture is lumpy and uneven. Beat the egg with the vanilla and drizzle it into the bowl. Mix with your hands to form big clumps. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to chill and as long as overnight. (You can also freeze this.)

Finish and bake the pie: When you’re ready to bake the pie, adjust the oven racks so one is in the lowest position. Place a large baking sheet on the rack and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Remove the pie shell, filling and topping from the refrigerator. Spoon the filling into the pie shell and smooth it out. Scatter the butter cubes over the fruit and drop the crumble mixture in clumps over the surface of the pie, leaving a few small holes here and there where the juices can bubble up. (You may not use all of the topping. Bake it separately and munch on it.)

Brush the crust (not the crumble topping) with cream or milk.

Place the pie on the preheated baking sheet and bake it for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake it for 55 to 65 minutes until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling and jammy, rotating the pan halfway through. If the crust starts to brown before the fruit begins to bubble, cover the browned edges or loosely tent the whole pie with foil. If you’re unsure if the pie is done (I always am!), stick a thermometer into the juices, making sure not to insert it so deep that it touches the bottom. You want the juices between 200 and 210 degrees. If that means it takes longer than the times listed above, that’s fine. Keep baking!

Remove the pie from the oven and set it aside for about 2 hours to chill before cutting into it. If you can’t wait, dig into a messy, delicious, warm pie.