Pie

I’ve been making a lot of this kind of tart these days, whether is be stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, plums or apricots, or blueberries, currants or cherries. I am sure that I will do the same with apples when that season rolls around. It’s easy and the streusel is a great contrasting crunchy texture to the soft and sweet. Fruit. Notice that I actually bake the streusel separately and then sprinkle it on the pie after baking. I have found with super juicy fruits or berries, the streusel can be a little too gloppy, and by adding it at the end, it stays nice and crisp.

Remember a few weeks ago, I made Mixed Berry Cheesecake Crumble Bars? The recipe that took me about 5 attempts to make because there seemed to be “something” wrong with it each time? Well, this recipe for Blueberry Cheesecake Pie is actually nearly identical to that one with the obvious exceptions that that one was made with a multitude of berries and this one only with blueberries (yes, the Maine kind!) and that on was cut to squares whereas this one will be cut to pie. Same actual recipe though (meaning, same ingredients except the berries, at the same volume, prepared the same way and for the same amount of time. I’ll have to see if this works with cherries or cranberries too, but for now enjoy the blueberry one!

This is my 4th attempt at making these Mixed Berry Cheesecake Crumble Bars. Well, first they started out as Strawberry Shortcake Cream Cheese Bar (disaster). Then I tried Raspberries. Not much better. Switched to mixed berries and the rest of the recipe (the cream cheese, the eggs, the Greek yogurt) got a complete overhaul. It wasn’t really about the berries, it was always about the ratios of the ingredients and the technique, times and cooling in between. When I finally got it right, these are perfection. And now the berry types won’t matter either. I might try it as a cheese cake pie variation later this week too. Proud of myself for finally figuring it out.

It’s Pie Day here in the US. March 14. 3.14 Of course, the rest of the world dates differently (i.e. dd/mm/yyyy or YYYY/dd/mm) but playing into the game, I decided to make this Pie for Pi day. Delicious and pretty, though be careful with overdoing it on the orange zest.

Pie comes with a hidden message. Doesn’t everyone need an emotional support pie plate?