Ruth Stauffer of Boone took third place in the Pillsbury Best Pie Championship at the Colorado State Fair with this recipe, which serves 6-8.
Ingredients
1 package Pillsbury Just Unroll Refrigerated Pie Crust (2 crusts per package)
5 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon apple schnapps
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup uncooked tapioca
16 ounces frozen blackberries, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon blackberry flavored brandy
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup uncooked tapioca
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup quick cooking oats
Directions
Bring pie crusts to room temperature while making filling. Cook sliced apples for 5 minutes in just enough water to cover them. Drain and toss with apple schnapps, the allspice, salt, sugar and tapioca. Let sit for 1/2 hour.
In another bowl, toss blackberries, blackberry flavored brandy, salt, sugar and tapioca. Let sit for 1/2 hour.
Unroll one pie crust and place in un-greased 9-inch pie pan. Press crust firmly against side and bottom of pan. Turn out blackberry mixture into pan and gently put apple layer on top of berry layer.
Melt butter with brown sugar in small saucepan. Stir in pecans and oats and put mixture on top of apple layer. Place second crust on top and cut slits in it. Crimp edges of crusts together in a pleasing design. Bake in pre-heated 425 degree oven. After 15 minutes, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake for a total of 40-60 minutes until done. Let sit 1/2 hour. Best served warm, not hot.
WINE IDEAS:Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Ore., makes fabulous eau-de-vie, liqueurs that taste of the essence of their fruit and slip down the throat with a warm hum rather than burn. Check out their apple eau-de-vie, which tilts toward caramel apples in its flavor due to aging in wooden barrels. You can find it at . Tara Q. Thomas
