Lemon Buttermilk Pie with Blueberry Topping

When I finished my half-marathon, I celebrated with a nap and a buttermilk pie with fresh blueberry topping. Buttermilk pie has such a homey taste, and it's low-fat. Just because the crust has butter and shortening in it, that doesn't mean it's unhealthy. ...Right?

Best of all, this recipe only requires one bowl to mix the pie. Then just heat up the blueberries over the stovetop.

My mother gave this the stamp of approval. Therefore, it has been deemed worthy of your tastebuds.

This is what the plain buttermilk pie looks like. It's good, but a bit bland. You gotta top it with fruit or whipping cream or chocolate or basically whatever you prefer.

The finished product. This is subtly sweet, not overpowering. I love that.

Lemon Buttermilk Pie with Blueberry Topping

Recipe Adapted from Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie by Tartelette

Ingredients
For the pie:
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 stick of unsalted butter (I used Smart Balance actually)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

For the topping (you can also double the recipe and save some for later, yummm):
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions
1. Roll out your dough the usual way and pre-bake it in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes. I just put parchment paper over the top and poked holes in the bottom, as I'm too lazy and cheap to buy the pie-specific baking beads or use beans.
2. Whisk together all the pie ingredients in one bowl. Pour the mixture into the prebaked pie shell.
3. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. The center should be set and not jiggly when you remove it from the oven. If the crust browns before the center is done, cover it with foil.
4. Allow the pie to cool. While the pie is cooling, place half the blueberries in a pan on the stovetop and mix together with the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Cook for about 5 minutes or until soft. Then add in the rest of the blueberries and cook for about another minute. Allow the topping to cool as well.
5. Before serving, top the pie with the blueberries and place in the fridge to cool completely.

Take a bite! Or, like me, 3/4 of the pie!

Sugar-Free Almond Milk Cherry Clafouti

A lot of clafouti recipes call for both almonds and milk, which I think is dumb considering I always have almond milk in my fridge. And it's delicious. And it's low cal. And it tastes like almond dreams. Which is probably why it is called Almond Dream. God, someone hit me.

This is a SUPER simple recipe that I threw together just before my friends came over for a gossip sesh last week. We ate it with a bottle of sirah, which complemented the egg flavor and the sweetness of the cherries. If you like egg flavor a lot, you can use a third egg instead of the flax seed, but I thought the flax balanced out the breakfast-y-ness (that's a word, bitches) of the clafouti flavors.

I made this sugar free because my dad is pre-diabetic, and I still wanted him to be able to enjoy the leftovers without worrying about ingesting copious amounts of refined sugars. If you want, replace the sucralose with real sugar.

Again, sorry about the photo quality. I was back at my parent's casa without my camera.

Halve your cherries nicely. If you have a pitter, good for you. I do not, so suck it (I guess I'm feeling aggressive tonight. I had too much sugar!)

I added blueberries to mine. You can add any complementary fruit really. I just had some sitting around. They will turn the whole thing blue if you don't eat it all in one sitting, however.

This is about how covered it should be with batter. 

I sprinkled on some almonds on the top halfway through baking. This is ready to eat.

Sugar-Free Almond Milk Cherry Blueberry Clafouti

Recipe adapted from Got No Milk

Ingredients

6 oz of dark cherries, pitted and halved

2 oz of blueberries, whole (alternatively, replace with 2 oz more cherries)

1 tbsp plus 1/2 cup sugar substitute (we use Splenda)

2 eggs

1 tbsp flax seed + 3 tbsp water (together, this replaces 1 egg)

1/2 tsp almond extract

pinch of salt

1/3 cup AP flour

1 1/4 cup almond milk (I used Almond Breeze brand)

powdered sugar, for sprinkling on top

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Grease a 10" round baking dish. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar. Then cover evenly with fruit.

3. Mix together eggs, flax + water, almond extract, salt, and the remaining sugar. 

TIP: If you don't have an electric mixer, use a whisk and blend quickly to get a lot of air in the batter and fluff it up. 

4. Add almond milk and then sift in the flour. Beat until smooth.

5. Pour over cherry mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Allow to cool and then top with powdered sugar.