RECIPE: Spring is here - Fruits & Berries

Spring is here at that means fruits and berries! Living in Dallas, the local Farmers Market receives a bounty of fresh fruits from Mexico and South American, so I get an early taste of summer. Berries are great this time of year, Blackberries, Blueberries as well as Raspberries. I picked up a quart of fresh Blackberries and decided to experiment a little. I try to cut back on carbohydrates as much as possible, so I made a Blackberry Cream Pie with a Pecan Crust, instead of the traditional pastry crust. I also added a Pecan Streusel topping, but that topping was a little too much Pecan, so I have omitted that from the recipe below. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

For the Crust:

• 3 cups Pecans, ground to meal (coffee grinder works great)
• ½ stick of butter
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder (chocolate goes great with anything, but can be omitted)

Mix the pecan meal and butter together and form with your hands in a 9 inch pie dish

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes

For the Filling:

• 4 cups fresh blackberries, washed and dried
• ¾ cup Raw Sugar (golden in color, but regular refined sugar can also be used)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Juice of ½ a small lemon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients, except berries, with an electric whisk until smooth and creamy.

Fold in berries

Pour filling into pie crust

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes

Let cool for at least 1 hour for filling to set.

I know it will be gone within 2 days, so I only cover it and leave it on the kitchen counter, to tempt everyone walking by. But it does have dairy (cooked) in it, so you may want to cover and refrigerate. When I lived in Florida I would never leave it out, but in a dry climate like Texas, I have found I do not need to refrigerate pies if they are going to be eaten within a couple of days.