It's berry season and one of my favorites because of all the delicious ways you can use berries. I recently went blueberry picking and came home with a big bucket of blueberries. I ate some, froze a lot and baked with the rest!

I love making pie and what's better in the summertime than a blueberry pie? So I did a little research and settled on a blueberry custard streusel pie. I liked the idea of a custard-based pie as it would add a little more stability and flavor to the filling. And who doesn't love a crunchy, nutty, streusel? This was a delicious pie and a recipe that I'll keep on file for the next time I have a bucket of berries! The only change I would make is to blind bake the pie crust first to ensure a fully baked bottom (mine was slightly underdone).

Blueberry Custard Streusel Pie

adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Crust

1 cup flour
1/2 salt
1/3 cup shortening
2 to 3 Tbsp cold water

Filling

1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup pecans, toasted & chopped

To make the crust, mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add shortening and using fingers, work the shortening into the flour until resembles pea-sized crumbles. Add enough water to make the dough just come together. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll about 1/8th inch thick. Transfer to a pie plate and crimp crust as desired. Line the pie crust with a piece of foil and add ceramic pie weights or dried beans (these help keep the crust from creating bubbles and the sides from sliding down). Blind bake in a 425 degree oven on the middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is just turning golden. Remove the foil and weights and return crust for about 5 minutes or until the bottom of the crust looks dry. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.

While the crust is cooling, prepare the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together sour cream, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla and salt. Gently fold in the blue berries. Pour into the crust shell. Cover the edges of the crust with foil (to prevent burning) and bake for 25 minutes.

While the filling is cooking, prepare the streusel. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and flour. Work in softened better until you have coarse crumbles. Add in the chopped pecans. After the filling has baked for 25 minutes, top the pie with the streusel topping and return to oven for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the pie is set and the streusel is browned.

Let the pie cool for at least 15-20 minutes and serve warm or refrigerated and serve chilled. Enjoy!

BONUS!!

If you happen to have lots of blueberries like I did and want another pie-in-the-sky idea...here's another pie recipe! This recipe was featured on the cover of Southern Living a few years ago and it looked so tempting, I had to make it. The secret ingredients? Honey and balsamic vinegar! Though I would consider adding a splash or two more of the vinegar, as once the pie was baked, you couldn't really taste the balsamic - but you could taste that it was a tasty pie! And I can't resist the look of a beautiful lattice crust. Find the recipe here.

It's a rainy, soon-to-be-snowy, almost Spring kind of weekend. So it's a perfect time to blog and make something that's been on my baking bucket list ever since I discovered The Great British Baking Show: pâte à choux (pronounced "PAHT-uh-shoo").

I think I had always been intimidated by pâte à choux - mainly because of the fancy sounding name. If you're wondering, "what the heck is pâte à choux?", it's a light, airy pastry dough that was first created in France and is used as the base for many popular treats: profiteroles (aka cream puffs), eclairs, croquembouches, beignets and churros (the last two are fried vs. baked).

What makes this dough unique compared to other baked goods, is that butter, water and flour are first cooked on the stove and the ball of dough then transferred to a mixer where you beat in eggs. The dough is then piped onto a baking sheet and baked (you can pipe a variety of shapes). While baking, the water evaporates, creating steam, which then causes them to puff! It's a lot of fun to watch as they bake! Once they're baked and cooled, you can fill them with a variety of fillings: whipping cream, pasty cream, custard or even ice cream! These cream puffs really came together much faster and more easily than I had imagined.

If you're looking for a dessert to really wow your guests - but come together in about the same time as making a cake or pan of brownies, these churro cream puffs are a "choux" in!

CHURRO CREAM PUFFS (adapted from Barbara Bakes)

Pâte à choux

6 tablespoons, butter
3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup flour
3 eggs
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a medium saucepan, bring butter, water, sugar and salt to a boil. Turn off heat and add the flour. Mix until the dough is smooth and forms a ball. Transfer dough to the bowl of a mixer and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Beat the dough and add the eggs one at a time. Beat until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a wide tip (at least 5/8" - can be plain or star tip). For standard-sized cream puffs, pipe dough into 1 1/2" rounds that are also 1 1/2" high. With a wet finger, smooth out and round the tops of each puff.
Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. They should be puffy and golden brown. (They'll really start to puff at about the 15-20 minute mark.) Turn the oven off - and let them cool in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
In a small bowl, heat honey in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Using a pastry brush, brush the honey over the tops and sides of the cream puff shells. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of each puff. Bake the shells for 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool completely before filling.

Cinnamon Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy whipped cream
pinch of salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, whip cream and salt until soft peaks form. Add in powdered sugar and cinnamon and whip until stiff peaks form.
Transfer mixture into a piping bag fitting with medium round or star tip.
Either cut each cream puff shell in half or with a paring knife, pierce an "X" on the side of each puff. Insert the pastry bag tip into the hole and fill each shell with the whipped cream.
Serve immediately.