Made with Love - Granny's Blackberry Pie

My grandmother was one of the most amazing cooks I have ever known, I like to think that I take after her, I know she is the one who taught me to cook and instilled in me a love of cooking and probably my love of food in general.  The above picture is me (wasn't a cute kid?), my Mom, Marilyn Neuberger and my Granny and Papa, JL and Mary Gregory in Germany.  As a kid in Kentucky, I would go with my Granny and Papa on saturday mornings and we would find a blackberry patch and then spend a couple of hours picking blackberries.  I would come away with permanently purple fingers and usually a tummy ache from eating as many berries as I saved.  There was also the occassional tick (I hate those creepy little creatures) and of course, countless pricked fingers from all the blackberry thorns!  When we got home we would wash the berries and then put them in bags to freeze so we could have blackberry pie all year round.  I live in Utah now and blackberries don't just grow on the side of the road here.  But recently, on my honeymoon, we discovered a wonderful place on the coast of Oregon where berries grow wild. We stopped and picked a huge bag of them and then put them on ice in the cooler and carried them lovingly home.  The pie in this picture was made with those beautiful blackberries and is filled with the memories of my granny and I sitting in her kitchen making pie!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have through the years!

GRANNY'S BLACKBERRY PIE:

• 6 cups blackberries or marion berries   (fresh or frozen)
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 8 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoon tapioca
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, chopped
• 2 (9 inch) pie crusts

Thoroughly mix sugar, flour, tapioca and cinnamon.
Sprinkle over berries, then gently toss to coat.
Pour into pie crust (I prefer homemade, but the Pillsbury refrigerated dough will do in a pinch.)
Place dots of butter all over top.
Place top crust on top and cut 5 slits through top crust.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until crust is light brown. Serve warm with homemade vanilla ice cream.