PIE-A-DAY #8
This recipe is one of Evan’s from back in 2009. She made it again recently and rediscovered just how yummy it is!
I originally made this pie on August 8, 2009 during my first round of Pie-a-Day, but I never actually wrote out the recipe. Since it was house consensus that it was the best pie of that summer I really had to make it again and see if it was, in fact, that good. Whoa boy, is it ever!
Your lesson to learn from this pie is
A. How to add sugar to a fruit pie without measuring
B. How a simple pie can be changed up through the addition of one superb ingredient
In this pie I used Lemon Quark from Spring Hill Cheese Company, in Petaluma. Quark is German Cream Cheese. You could use whipped cream cheese, mascarpone, creme fraiche or even a very fresh goat cheese.
Keep reading for the recipe
Blackberry Streusel Pie with Lemon Quark
Dough for single crust 9″ pie
4 pints fresh blackberries
Sugar to Taste (between 2-6 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
1/4 cup lemon quark or lemon mascarpone (see page 000)
2 cups Streusel (recipe coming)
Preheat oven to 425
Roll out dough as directed on page 000 and fit it into your pie pan. Flute the edges as you prefer. Place prepared crust in freezer while you get the filling ready.
Gently pull of any leaves that might adhere to the berries and discard any moldy ones. Place berries in medium mixing bowl. Taste a berry. Now add the sugar to your taste tossing gently after each addition and tasting a berry until the sweetness is good for you. If you feel the berries need a lift of flavor add a squeeze of lemon, but no more than a tablespoon. Toss and taste again. Now you’re ready to add the flour. Sprinkle flour over the berries and gently toss until the flour is distributed. It’s alright if you still see s few specks of flour.
Streusel Topping:
1 stick butter
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup brown sugar
Pinch of Salt
You can make this topping in a food processor with the steel blade or by hand in a bowl, using a fork to mix. Mix together the flour and sugar until well mixed. Add the butter pieces and toss them in the flour sugar mixture so they are completely coated. Either pulse in food processor or mix together by hand until the mixture has large and small lumps and some crumbly bits. Set aside in freezer.
Take the crust out of the freezer and pour the prepared berries in. Make a few generous soup spoon sized dollops of quark or mascarpone over the berries. Top the pie generously with cold streusel. I like to make big clumps by squeezing some of the topping dough in my palm.
Place on lowest rack and bake for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 375 and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes or until the berry juices bubble and the topping is golden brown, including any visible cheese.