Blackberry and apple pie

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 if using shortcrust, or 180°C/Fan 160°C/ Gas 4 if using almond pastry.

While the pastry is chilling, make the filling. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into chunks – not too small, or they will collapse early on baking and the pastry will flop. Taste the apples for sweetness and decide how much sugar to add. Tip the apples into a large bowl and add the muscovado sugar and blackberries. Toss gently, then pile into your pie dish.

Break off a small piece of pastry and roll it into a long thin sausage that will fit all around the rim of the pie dish. Wet the rim of the dish and press your pastry sausage to flatten onto the rim all around, joining the ends together.

Roll out the rest of the pastry between two sheets of cling film dusted with tapioca starch to about a 4–5mm thickness – not too thin or it will break when you lay it over the fruit. Peel off the top sheet of cling film and invert the pastry over the fruit.

Press the pastry down gently around the edge of the pie dish to seal and then use a sharp knife to trim the excess overhanging the edge of the dish. Use a fork or your fingers to crimp the edge. Make a couple of slashes in the pastry to allow steam to escape.

Brush the pastry lightly with milk and sprinkle generously with caster sugar. Bake for about 45–50 minutes until the pastry is crisp. If it looks like the pastry might become too dark, just lightly cover the top with foil.

Serve the pie warm, with lashings of cream.