SMS: Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

Is it really Sunday afternoon already?  This weekend has absolutely flown by, but it was a ton of fun!  Yesterday Shane and I woke up bright and early, hopped in the car and drove out to western Massachusetts (about an hour and a half from home) to visit Six Flags New England.  We’ve found that late summer/early fall is the best time to visit theme parks and yesterday was no exception – perfect weather and almost non-existent crowds.  In fact, I think the longest we waited (even for the major coasters) was 15 minutes.  It was nearly three and a half years ago that we visited our last theme park, Universal Studios in Florida, so it was high time for another trip.  Shane is such a big kid at heart and he couldn’t have been more excited to be at the park.  He loves getting to the park before it opens and then making a beeline for the biggest, most thrilling, coaster as soon as we’re let in.  Yesterday, that meant a ride on Bizarro, complete with a 221-foot drop, was first on the agenda.  We followed that up with a spin on every major ride in the park and let me just say, I was feeling my age by the end of the day  I’m making up for it today, though, with an afternoon on the couch watching football, so it’s all good!

Since we were so busy yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to bake this week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday’s recipe until this morning.  Melissa of Lulu the Baker selected lemon blueberry buttermilk pie – a flaky all-butter crust filled with a buttermilk/lemon custard and finished off with a blueberry topping.  I took a few liberties with the recipe to make my life easier.  First, I skipped the pie crust and instead opted for a graham cracker crust, which I pressed into two mini springform pans.  I baked the crusts for about 8 minutes, let them cool briefly then poured in the filling (I made 1/3 of the filling recipe).  I ran into some trouble with the baking time for my minis.  I wound up letting them go about 22 minutes, at which point the filling finally seemed set, but in hindsight, they definitely should have come out earlier.  The resulting texture of the filling wasn’t entirely pleasant, except in the very center of the pies where they were actually baked properly.  As for the flavor, I generally love lemon desserts, but the buttermilk made the filling a bit too tangy for me.  I used frozen blueberries for the topping, though I strayed from the recipe in the book.  My topping started with the frozen berries, a little water and orange juice and some sugar in a saucepan.  I let the mixture come to a boil then added a slurry of water and cornstarch to thicken the sauce.  

It was a pretty dessert, even if not entirely successful for me.  I’m also glad to have tried my first buttermilk pie so lots of thanks to Melissa for hosting this week!  You can find the recipe on her blog or on pages 158-159 of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.