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.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Your day at Six Flags sounds like a blast! My hubby has been talking about going to our local Six Flagg too. I like your idea of going in the fall. Although, in California the weather is usually pretty decent year round.
Your mini looks so cute. The graham cracker crust sounds yummy! Sorry to hear the filling didn’t turn out the way you wanted. I really enjoyed this recipe…I was unsure how I’d like a custard with buttermilk, but I really enjoyed it.
Your pic looks supper yummy even though you were not super pleased with the end result. I enjoyed reading about your six flags adventure. I live in Florida where we should be enjoying water park weather but we’ve just been getting tons of rain!
I love this as a mini! Graham cracker crust sounds delicious!! I loved this filling, even if it was in a bowl 🙂
Well your pie is beautiful, even if it didn’t turn out quite the way you wanted it to! Minis are always so hard, especially when the recipe doesn’t give you directions for them; total guessing game. Thanks for baking with me this week!
–Melissa
We absolutely do that when we go to theme parks too! It always seems to work out the best just after everyone is back in school.
Sorry that your filling didn’t turn out quite right. I love the idea of a graham cracker crust, and I agree. It is a beautiful dessert!
Well it certainly looks pretty!
Wow! Gorgeous pic! If you hadn’t have said anything I would have thought this was perfect!
Great idea to use a graham cracker crust! Your mini pie is absolutely gorgeous!
So jealous – I love roller coasters and haven’t been on one in ages!
I haven’t been to Six Flags in too long! And I think we are looking to go in October. I’m way more excited than I should be. 🙂
Your pie looks great, even if it wasn’t a hit with you.
THe idea of the graham cracker crust is inspired. I like this kind of a filling with graham cracker, more than the traditional crust. I did like the filling but despite your feelings about it, you made one beauty of a pie.
Your mini looks beautiful. I was curious how this would be with a graham cracker crust. The combination of buttermilk and lemon did make for a pretty tangy dessert (I loved it, though).
Glad you were able to get out and have a fun day on Saturday!
The pie looks gorgeous, even if it didn’t turn out well!
these look beautiful and tasty!
-nikki
make { and } take.
Well even though you didn’t like it, your pie certainly looks great! And yes, nothing like sipping through lines at theme parks 🙂 That’s why early Fall is my favorite time to go.
How did I miss this one?? That is so adorable. What a great job on the mini pies. I haven’t had buttermilk pie in years. I may have to find a recipe for it.