Blackberry Crumb Pie

We have 3 blackberry bushes in our back yard that produce super delicious blackberries every summer. There are usually too many for us to really just eat by themselves - so I've tried freezing them but then forget about them, they get frostbite, etc. Sooo, this year Eric suggested I make a pie. I thought, hmm, I've never really made pie before, and I really don't like fruit pies. Well, let me clarify: I love key lime pie, lemon meringue pie and other cream pies, but pies with chunks of fruit - blech...but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. So I found a recipe in my Southern Living cookbook that looked fabulous. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here is the pie after we sliced into it. It. was. delicious.



First I made the crust using a recipe also in Southern Living:

Pastry Shell

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon vinegar

Combine flour and sugar; add butter and vinegar, mixing well. Roll pastry out to fit a 9-inch pie pan. Lightly grease pie pan and press pastry into pan.

Now for the filling:

Blackberry Crumb Pie

1 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups fresh blackberries
1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell (see above)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

Combine first 4 ingredients; stir well. Place blackberries in unbaked pastry shell; sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar over berries. Spread sour cream mixture over berries. Combine breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon sugar, and butter; sprinkle over top. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center of pie is firm.

So, a couple things I learned: my crust got a little darker than I would have liked...so maybe I should have checked it before 45 minutes...but it was not burned and it still tasted great.

I doubled the crumb topping mixture. I put the first load on and it just didn't seem like enough so I loaded it up with another round!

Now, I said I don't like fruit pie - but this fruit pie...I love. The sour cream combined with the sugar makes an absolutely to-die-for creamy filling. Also, we served it cold which I think helped my enjoy it more (I reallllly don't like hot fruit). Anyway, a piece of this pie served with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream = HEAVEN!

Oh, and I imagine that this would be good with any kind of fruit. The cookbook mentions blueberries specifically, but I suppose any fruit would be yummy.