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These are the cute little boxes I made to give Harald and Kirsten their pie!

As mentioned, here is the recipe:

Just make sure you realize the crust recipe is for three pies, but the filling is only for one! 
I made two blackberry pies and an apple.

Crust: (makes 6 crusts, enough for three two-crust pies)

6 cups flour

3 cups butter

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar (optional)

Mix flour, salt and sugar together. Cut in shortening using pastry cutter until mixture starts forming small, pea-sized balls. Add water and gently combine with fork until just mixed. Gather dough with hands and make into ball. Refrigerate while making pie filling.

Blackberry filling: (for one pie)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

4 cups fresh berries

1 1/2 tbsp. butter

Mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon.

Lightly mix in berries. 

Roll out dough on flour-covered surface.

Tips: roll until you can place the pie pan upside-down on top of the dough and have about an inch or two of dough border.

Gently fold in half, place in pie pan, then unfold.

Pour filling into pastry-lined pan and dot with butter.

Cover with top crust with slits in it. Press edges of crusts together. Bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes, until crust is browned and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust. Check half-way through, as you may want to cover the edges with foil to prevent burning.

Blackberry picking

It seems like I've been doing this a lot lately.

Last week I did with Camille, and I have gone twice this week.

It's things like this that make me want to never go back to school again. Where can you find bushes and bushes of berries on campus? NOWHERE.

I mentioned my friend was visiting from Sweden. So on Friday we went with Kirsten to explore Wildwood Park. And I promised them pie, which you will see wednesday!

Today, I tried to go with the 2 year-old...

Prepare yourself for a visual representation of my supervising skills.

Ready?

A blackberry mustache never looked so cute!

This is my formal apology to his parents for ruining his shirt.

Someone has to be the cool aunt, okay?!

when you give a dillan a sherbet...

Blackberry Sherbet from my home girl, Betty.

Mix in Saucepan:

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. unflavored gelatin

stir in gradually:

2 tbsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup blackberry juice (or whatever fruit you desire)

Bring to boil. Cool. Stir in slowly:

1 cup milk

Pour into refrigerator tray. Freeze to a mush (about 1 hr.) Beat in chilled bowl with hand mixer until creamy. Fold in:

1 egg, stiffly beaten

Return to tray. Freeze until firm (2-3 hrs.), stirring occasionally.

Toddler approved!

blackberry fever

there is a bag of blackberries in our freezer that was given to my mother. So prepare yourself for blackberry concoctions. This morning it was muffins, tonight it was sorbet.

I'm going to say something bold, here.

THESE ARE THE BEST MUFFINS I HAVE EVER HAD.

I was swooning the entire time I was making them.

It's the browned butter. And the magical spice mix I found in my parents' cupboard.

Recipe:

Topping: 

1/4 cup brown sugar

5 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon (side note: I found a little container of cookie/cake spice blend in the cupboard, which I used in place of cinnamon. It has like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and some other random things blended together.)

2 1/2 tbsp melted butter

Muffin batter:

2 cups of flour (I used oat flour. Better for you. And you can get away with it in muffins.)

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 egg

6 tbsps browned butter (to brown butter, place in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble and brown flecks appear. Once the brown flecks start appearing, remove from heat so it doesn't burn.)

1 cup buttermilk

blackberries

Directions: 

Mix together topping ingredients. Use your hands, use a fork, whatever floats your boat. Set that baby aside for later.

In one bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Stir 'em up.

In second bowl: egg, browned butter, buttermilk. Whisk together and add to the bowl of dry ingredients.

Stir everything together by hand until just mixed.

Fold in blackberries.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line or spray muffin tin. Fill cups to about 3/4 full. Sprinkle (or completely bury) the muffins with the topping mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes! Woohoo!