Blackberry Crisp Pie

My blackberries are ripening at a rapid rate.  I picked a quart of them today, and there’s more out there that need to be picked.  I’m eating them for breakfast on my oats, for lunch on my salad and I’m freezing a cookie sheet of blackberries a day.  I figured I might as well go for 3 out of 3 so I asked Mr Recession Kitchen what sort of blackberry dessert he would like, but I knew the answer already, blackberry crisp.  Fruit crisps are his “go to” dessert, that’s assuming chocolate is not an option.  I was leaning towards a pie, so to compromise, I made a crisp pie.   

I used my Carmelita bar recipe, which is always a big hit, for the crust. The crust contains sugar, I prefer to use honey or agave in my baked goods but the crispy part of this pie would have a more cake like consistency, not really what I was going for.  Next, I needed was a blackberry filling. There was already enough sugar in the crust so I sweetened the filling with agave to balance it out. I used 3 cups of blackberries for this pie but I’m going increase that to 4 cups next time I make this.  I’d like there to be even more fruit filling to balance the sweetness of the crisp.  There will most definitely be a next time.

Blackberry Crisp Pie

8 Servings - Use organic ingredients whenever possible

For the Crust:

1 cups unbleached white flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats

1/2 cup unbleached sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Earth Balance buttery spread, melted

For the Filling:

4 cups fresh blackberries (sub any fresh berries)

1/2 cup agave nectar (sub honey if agave is not available)

1/4 cup unbleached white flour

2 tablespoons tapioca starch

Preheat your oven to 350˚  Grease and flour a 9” spring form pan.

Put the flours, oats, sugars, baking soda and salt into a bowl (or your stand mixer)

Melt the Earth Balance and pour it over the dry ingredients.

Turn on your mixer to the lowest speed and mix until all dry ingredients are well coated and crumbly. 

Put 2 1/2 cups of this mixture into the spring form pan and press evenly over the bottom.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and let cool while you prepare the fruit.

Put the fruit into a bowl and sprinkle the flour and tapioca starch over it.

Mix once or twice, very gently so you don’t break up the fruit. 

Pour the agave over the fruit and mix again.

Spread the fruit mixture over the par baked crust and sprinkle the remaining crust evenly over the fruit.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  

Allow to cool completely before cutting.