Blackberry goodness

Last Friday was DH's birthday. Instead of a cake, I made him blackberry pie. It's a recipe of my Mom's...I have wonderful memories of eating this pie in fresh fruit season growing up.

It's a fresh pie, not baked - so if your fruit is in peak condition, this is really the best way to show it off!

Although I made this pie with blackberries, you can substitute any kind of berry, or cut up peaches, or plums... you get the idea. We have a HUGE blackberry crop this year, and I'll be making this again soon.

Ingredients:

9" baked pie shell, cooled
3 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened and sweetened
4 C berries (rasp, black, blue or straw)
3/4 C water
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 C sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
dash salt

1. Spread cream cheese over the bottom of the baked shell. Arrange 3 C of your berries on top of the cheese
2. Crush remaining berries in a saucepan, add the water, simmer 3-4 minutes
3. Strain to remove seeds and add enough water to make 1 C of juice
4. Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add the juice and bring to a boil. Cook 3-4 minutes, until thickened and clear.
5. Remove from heat, cool slightly and add the lemon juice.
6. Spoon glaze evenly over berries in the pie shell. Chill until firm, garnish with slightly sweetened whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Lisa