Mini Summer Berry Pie

With Summer on the horizon, here's a lovely recipe. It's perfect for a warm summer evening with a dollop of ice cream or warmed up on a cooler day!

For the pastry, you will need:

225g plain flour

110g hard butter

80g caster or icing sugar

1 egg

Milk for binding

For the filling, you will need:

Mixed summer fruits (Raspberries, blueberries, cherries)

Sugar

Note - The fruits can be fresh or frozen, both work well.

Cut the butter into small cubes. Add the flour, sugar and butter to a large bowl.

Using your first fingers and thumb to rum the mixture into fine bread crumbs. Work as quickly as possible to avoid the butter melting from the heat of your hands.

Using a cold knife, mix the egg into the mixture. Once it is fully mixed, add the milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Mix well with a knife between spoonfuls.

One it is fully binded together, wrap the mixture in cling film and chill in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.

Dust a surface and a rolling pin with flour. Roll out the mixture until it's a few millimetres thick. Using a circular cutter, cut out circles of pastry that will fit into a cup-cake dish.

Add a layer of grease-proof paper inside the pastry and fill it with lentils. This will keep it pressed down so the pastry doesn't rise when you blind bake it.

Put the pastry cases in the oven at 190 degrees centigrade for 15 minutes. If they begin to brown, take them out.

Once cooked and cooled, remove the lentils and baking paper and you will be left with empty cases.

Put the fruits into a sauce pan and heat gently. If the fruits are fresh, add a table spoon or 2 of water. Let the mix simmer until it gets a jam-like consistency.

Let the mix cool slightly before adding it to the empty cases.

Serve either warm or cold with ice cream or cream.