Ahhhh a pie competition!! and in March! Well as you can see I decided on my favorite A+B = π. Now I do know that Pi itself is totally irrational, but my decision to proceed with this particular pie requires some explanation.

Pie rational(e) - an oxymoron :)

So, a pie competition. First thing that sprang to mind was a good chunky meat pie with lashings of delicious gravy. My resident math nerd veto'd this with ' Pythagoras was a vegetarian - no meat pie for the Py-man and not on pi day.'

OK... I countered this with a hearty bean pie, which was of course immendately squashed again. Unbeanownst to me, Pythagoras was terrified of beans for some irrational reason (funny given he wasn't an irrational type of bloke..), so that wouldn't do either.

I considered a seafood pie, but it was quickly discounted as the idea of an octopie just plain freaked me out!

Abandoning all savory pursuits I delved a little deeper into my pie repertoire (and my freezer) and brought forth this pi-tastic creation. Behold! the totally rational irrational Apple and Blackberry pie. And its easy too!

Step 1: What You Need

Now to get into the swing of being irrational! The ingredients to nine decimal places!

3/4 of a cup of castor sugar
.
1 egg
400g flour
1 tsp vanilla
250g soft butter
9 oz flour (approximately....)
2.5 tsp baking powder
600-700g apples
0.5 c blackberries
1/3 tsp cinnamon
25% of a cup of sugar

Or for those of you who prefer standard measurements...

1 cup/250g soft butter
3/4 c castor sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
2.5 c of flour
2.5 tsp of baking powder
6-700g apples
1/2 c blackberries
1/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

You will also need:

a cake mixer
spatula
pie dish/cake tin
apple peeler/spiraliser (optional)

Step 2: Making the Short Piestry

Make sure the butter is pretty soft - soft enough for you to poke a (clean) finger into easily.

Cream the butter, vanilla and first measure of sugar in your cake mixer.

Add the egg and mix well.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and add.

Turn out onto a clean bench and knead until smooth.

Step 3: Pi Time

Cut one third of the pastry off and set to one side.

Grease or butter the 2πr (the circumference of course!) and bottom of the pan if required. I used a springform cake tin so used baking paper on the base.

Lay some clingwrap (seran wrap/gladwrap/whatever you use!) on the bench and roll the remaining pastry out. I judge the size by setting the pie dish in the middle and making sure it extends about the height of the dish out from the edge.

Lay the pastry in the tin and press around the edges with your fingers to even out the edges (no-one like irrational edges)Trim if necessary/required.

Peel, slice and chop your apples. I used a peeler/spiraliser machine so all i had to do was chop :)

Mix the remaining measure of sugar with the cinnamon and tip over the apples. Stir to ensure good coverage.

Tip apple mix into the pastry and add the blackberries to the top. Even the top of the pie out by adjusting the apple.

Step 4: Pi Magic

Returning to your cling wrap, roll the second smaller piece of pastry out. If you want to do any decorations you will need to save some of this pastry for that! Roll the pastry out in to a circle that will fit onto your pie. Now you can do this by:

a) guessing approximate sizes and hoping for the best,

b) rolling big and using the bottom of the pie dish to mark out your circle

c) calculate the radius of your tin and mark the circumference on the pastry using a protractor

what ever works really.

Lay the top onto the pie, position in the centre and peel off the cling wrap.

You can finish the edges of the pie on lots of ways. I folded the outside edge over so that my circumference of pi had something to lean on.

I decorated my pie by making a little Pi cookie cutter ('ible to follow!) and laying little pi's around the outside edge. I glazed the decorations with a little leftover eggwhite stright from the shell!

Bake at 190c/375f for 40 mins or until golden on top.

Step 5: Eat!

This recipe makes a delicious pie, but I was a bit disappointed with how the decorations turned out. The uneven surface created by the chunks of apple made it difficult to get the pi symbols around the edge in a good place so that they retained their shape. Any suggestions gladly accepted!

This pie can be eaten hot or cold, but in my opinion is better hot with ice cream. Enjoy this irrational but well rounded pie and remember!! too much π gives you a larger circumference! Happy Pi day everyone!