~September Blackberries~

The blackberries behind my fence are still bearing and I wanted to make a pie this past weekend. The rain had made the ripe ones a bit mushy though so...change of plans! I've always been meaning to try raspberry curd (awful name I know!) but never seem to want to give up that many of my precious few raspberries. So hey..why not try it with blackberries?


The recipe I found to try is actually more like pie filling due to the cornstarch, but close enough for me! I really want to make the beautiful little tarts featured in the post. I'm not a huge fan of meringue, but theirs looks so cute! Anyways, back to the curd...here is the recipe. I doubled the original give or take..12 T of corn starch just seemed like severe overkill. And I replaced the Creme de Cassis with Chambord. Must get me some Creme de Cassis!

Blackberry Curd



4 cups fresh or thawed, frozen blackberries*
2 cup sugar
8 Tbspn corn starch
1/4 tspn salt
2 Tbsp Chambord
2 Tbspn freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 egg yolks
4 Tbspn butter
2 cup boiling water

1. In a food processor or blender, puree the blackberries until smooth. If desired, pour through a sieve to take out seeds (I actually like the seeds for texture, so I don't strain them out.) You should have one cup of blackberry puree; if there is extra, set aside for other uses.
2. In a saucepan (not yet heated), combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually blend in the blackberry puree, chambord, and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
3. Add the egg yolks and butter, blending until smooth.
4. Gradually add in the boiling water, stirring constantly.
5. Place the saucepan on medium high heat and bring to a full boil (at this point you can remove a few of the seeds if you didn't strain), stirring gently with a spatula and scraping the bottom (to prevent burning). Once the mixture begins to thicken, reduce the heat and simmer for one minute.
6. Remove the curd from heat and let cool.


So what you say am I going to do with all this curd??? How about little short bread cookies dipped in curd? Or maybe swirled in yogurt. And I have visions of scones and curd dancing in my head. Probably an awesome cake filling too. Or this yumminess,



I had a kind of creamy, cool dessert in mind and couldn't find just the right recipe so threw a few together and came up with what I'm calling

Suzy's Creamy Blackberry Delight

For Crust:
1 pkg graham crackers, crushed
1/4 cup sugar
1/4-1/2 cup melted butter (whatever it takes to moisten crumbs)

Mix crust ingredients then press into tart pan or pie dish. (I used a rectangular tart pan). Bake at 375° for 8 mins. Remove from oven and cool.

For filling:

1 8 oz box cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cream, whipped with an addl 1/4 cup powdered sugar (reserve about 1/3 of whipped cream for topping).
1 cup blackberry curd (or enough to spread a 1/4 layer over cream cheese filling)

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat again until smooth. Fold in whipped cream (remember to reserve 1/3 of it) until well blended. Spread in cooled crust. Top with curd.

For Topping:

Reserved 1/3 of the whipped cream
1/2 cup blackberry curd

Fold whipped cream and curd together until well blended. Spread on top of the curd layer. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until set.



I found the pretty vintage ball jar at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. This is my contribution to Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays over at Coastal Charms.


Throwing in this pretty sky I snapped this evening.