Blackberry Cream Pie with Brown Butter Crust

Summer is almost at a close, and that means that the sweet tender blackberry is about to have its swan song for the year. Blackberries are my favorite fruit—when they’re perfectly ripe, nothing can legitimately compare to the complex sweet, floral, tart and deeply comforting flavor they so generously share with us during the fleeting months of summer. Luckily, this blackberry cream pie can be made with fresh *or* frozen blackberries, so if you get a hankerin’ for some summery cream pie in the dead of winter, feel free to use some frozen blackberries to help soothe your craving.

On that note, if you’re eating blackberries out of season (aka outside of the summertime), it’s better to buy them frozen than fresh. Frozen blackberries are harvested at peak natural ripeness and frozen right afterwards (which means they have a very nice sweet flavor), whereas fresh out-of-season berries were picked unripe so that they could be shipped while fairly hard, which means they taste pretty miserable. So frozen fruits and veggies can definitely be your friend in terms of flavor, especially when compared to their out-of-season “fresh” counterparts.

As for the nitty gritty of what’s inside this blackberry cream pie, I picked some blackberries from the homestead and cooked them down into a jammy filling. Then I took a tiny bit of that filling and folded it into a whipped cream/mascarpone/honey/vanilla mixture to create a creamy fluffy topping for the pie. And the crust is made from brown butter mixed with graham cracker crumbs and finely chopped pistachios (yes, I am an evil genius.) Altogether it makes for one helluva tasty + summery pie, one that’s perfect for sharing with friends + family at a picnic table outside while the evenings are still pleasant and dry.

And I took these images as a part of my Passion Project with Adobe Lightroom, and I posted Part I here of a 3-part series I’ll be sharing on instagram. It’s focused on wild-to-table recipes, and I’ve got an elderberry recipe on the docket soon, too! Huge thanks to Lightroom for helping support visual artists + creative folks like myself so we can continue to make + share art for a living. And if you’re looking for some more tasty recipes to make with the last of summer’s berries, you can give this Rosemary Honey Cake with Blackberry Buttercream a whirl! Talk soon, my friends 🙂

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Blackberry Cream Pie with Brown Butter Graham Cracker Crust

This blackberry cream pie has a layer of blackberry jam topped with a blackberry mascarpone whipped cream in a pistachio brown butter crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword blackberry cream pie

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Cooling Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 50 minutes

Servings 12 people

Calories 448 kcal

Ingredients

Blackberry Filling

• 1 1/2 pounds blackberries fresh or frozen
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered gelatin or pectin
• Pinch of salt

Blackberry Whipped Cream

• 1 1/2 cups mascarpone
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons reserved blackberry filling

Pistachio Brown Butter Graham Cracker Crust

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 11 graham crackers about 1/12 cups in crumb-form
• 1/4 cup shelled pistachios
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Garnish (optional)

• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
• 2 talespoons honey
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blackberries

Instructions

Blackberry Filling

1. Bring everything to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until the blackberries have softened and the mixture has thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the blackberry filling and set aside.

Blackberry Whipped Cream

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the mascarpone, whipping cream, and vanilla at medium speed until thickened and able to hold a peak, about 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, add the sugar and honey and mix until *just* incorporated (be careful NOT to overmix). Add the 3 tablespoons reserved blackberry filling and gently fold it into the mixture with a rubber spatula.

Pistachio Brown Butter Graham Cracker Crust

1. When making browned butter, it is best to use a stainless steel pan so that you can see the color of the butter change. Heat the butter in a large shallow frying pan over medium heat until melted. Swirl the pan around a bit every couple minutes to help it cook evenly. Over a period of several minutes, you’ll notice the foam at the top of the butter start to change from light yellow to a dark tan. Once it reaches the dark tan stage and the butter looks light brown and golden, smell it. It should smell nutty and similar to toffee. Remove from heat, stir in the honey, and set aside to cool to warm.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, pulverize the graham crackers and pistachios until they form fine crumbs but NOT a paste. They should be dry and crumbly. Combine the brown butter mixture and the graham cracker mixture together in bowl with the sugar and the salt and stir until mixed. Then press into a 10-inch pie dish to form the crust.

Assembly

1. Empty the blackberry filling into the crust and spread to even it out. Then add the blackberry whipped cream mixture on top of the blackberry filling and spread it out with a rubber spatula to cover the filling (you can use the back of a spoon to make some fun swirls on top, if you want.) Garnish with the chopped pistachios, honey, and blackberries and place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before slicing and serving. Will keep up to 1 week in the refrigerator in an airtight container, but be aware that the crust will soften the longer it sits.

Nutrition Facts

Blackberry Cream Pie with Brown Butter Graham Cracker Crust

Amount Per Serving

Calories 448 Calories from Fat 297

% Daily Value*

Fat 33g51%

Saturated Fat 19g119%

Trans Fat 0.3g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 6g

Cholesterol 79mg26%

Sodium 159mg7%

Potassium 201mg6%

Carbohydrates 33g11%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 20g22%

Protein 6g12%

Vitamin A 1186IU24%

Vitamin C 14mg17%

Calcium 94mg9%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.