Happy Friday friends! I've got a fun recipe to share with you today. With Valentine's Day less than two weeks away, I thought I'd share a yummy treat to make. I know that pie isn't exactly what you think of in terms of a Valentine's Day dessert, but honestly, it tastes so good and looks so pretty that I think pie definitely deserves a place in the Valentine's Day dessert category. Chocolate is great and all, but a good pie is somehow so comforting and so home-y.

I actually got a craving for berry pie a few weeks ago and around the same time, I had flipped through the Williams Sonoma catalog and spotted these fun cookie stamps. Then I thought how cute it would be to make mini berry pies and decorating the tops of them with these Valentine's Day stamps. So I sought to find a really good berry pie recipe and came across this one. I've never eaten at a Mario Batali restaurant or tried his recipes lately but I just knew that this recipe had to be good based on the ingredients list and from the reviews. I mean, if it's on Food and Wine and getting lots of praise, then it kind of has to be good, right?

It turns out, it's freaking delicious and now my favorite kind of pie is blackberry pie. I decided to use already made pie crust that's rolled because I was a bit lazy. I've used it a ton in lots of different recipes and honestly it tastes pretty darn good for already-made pie crust dough. But I have no doubt that this crust recipe tastes delicious.

Ingredients
Recipe is by Mario Batali's mother, Marilyn.

CRUST
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup solid vegetable shortening, chilled
5 tablespoons ice water

FILLING
2 pints blackberries (1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water (for an egg wash to seal the pies)

Directions
Since I used already made pie crust, I'm not going to include the bit about making the crust in Mario's recipe. I'll just tell you guys what I did to make the pies photographed here.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. Bring your already made pie crust dough to room temp, around 15 minutes. I used the Pillsbury kind that has two rolls.
2. In the meantime, in a bowl, stir the blackberries with the sugar, flour and lemon juice, lightly mashing a few berries. Set that aside to get the dough ready.
2. Lightly flour your working surface and unroll the dough. I used a rolling pin and rolled it just a smidge since I don't like it when the dough of my mini pies is too thick.
3. I used a 4" round cookie cutter to cut out my rounds. That gives for plenty of allowance with regards to the cookie stamps and forking the edges with a fork. Make sure you have an even number since you're going to need two for each pie.
4. Then use the cookie stamps to imprint the designs on the tops of the pies. I had to use a bit of force in order to get the designs to really show on the dough. Don't be too worried if you press too hard and cut the dough. I did that quite a bit at first but when the pies bake, it shows that pretty blackberry color so it ends up being pretty.
5. Place the bottoms on your sheet pan. I lined mine with parchment paper to prevent from making a huge mess.
6. Then spoon the blackberry mixture onto each round. (Mine looks a bit more watery than it should be. That's because I added two tablespoons of lemon juice rather than the one. I wasn't paying attention, don't do what I did!)
7. Brush the egg wash on the edges of the bottom and sprinkle the butter cubes (about 2) on top of the blueberry mixture.
8. Then add the tops of the pie with the imprinted stamp design.
9. Using a fork, crimp the edges. You could probably use the fold-over technique here too, but I was not feeling that nimble with my fingers so I went the fork route.
10. Then brush the tops with the egg wash.
11. Cut very small slits at the top to release and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.