While some guard their blackberry recipes under lock and key, I gained permission from my family to share my father-in-law’s mother’s pie recipe.

Ines Jennings raised eight children in a small town in Illinois. She was known for her pies, her buttermilk biscuits and her Thanksgiving side-dish of mashed-potato noodles. (Yes, they sound odd, but are delicious.)

Blackberry Pie

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Crust: (Makes one crust. To make the two crusts required for the blackberry pie, do not double the recipe, but rather make two batches. Doubling the recipe makes the crust too dry.)

Pie Crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Add 1/3 cup plus one tablespoon vegetable shortening to the flour-mixture and use a pastry cutter or fork to break-in the shortening.

Add 3 tablespoons of cold water and mix to form a ball of dough.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Transfer to a nine-inch pie plate, covering the bottom and sides of the pan. Prick the crust multiple times with a fork.

Make another batch of dough, setting it aside to top the pie.

Pie filling:

5 cups blackberries, gently washed and drained

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel (if your berries aren’t too ripe, cut this down to 1/2 tablespoon, otherwise the pie will be on the sour-side.)

Mix gently together and pour into prepared pie shell.

Break two tablespoons of butter into thin pieces and sprinkle over filling.

Top filling with the other crust, pinching the sides to seal the pie.

Sprinkle a mixture of one teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon over the crust.

Cut an “X” into the center of the pie.

Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

­—Do you have a family recipe you would like to share? Be sure to include a story or photo along with the recipe. Send it to: ejennings@northkitsapherald.com, or P.O. Box 278, Poulsbo, WA 98370.