Hello Bakers,
It's the first day of Summer and hot here in Los Angeles. This is not the time of year to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
It's not an easy time of year for us bakers, as we still love to bake. Also, everyone still expects the delicious treats to keep on coming, despite the heat. If you are reading this blog then I know you are THE ONE always makes or brings dessert.
As the designated baker we need good recipes in our repertoire. I feel it is my job to develop great recipes, feature them here for you to try and enjoy.
Today's recipe is an old fashioned dessert that used to be called a "Betty". It is in the category of desserts that are made with fruit and called "slumps", "grunts", "pandowdies" and "crisps".
A "Betty" has the distinction of using melted butter in the topping while the rest of the category use cold cubed butter in the base or topping. I am a very old fashioned girl at heart but "Betty" seemed a little too retro. So instead I am call it a "Cakepie". It is baked in a pie pan, is full of fruit but the batter that lightly holds the mix together has a cake like texture
This is very quick to mix - you can have ready to go - start to finish in about an hour and five minutes. It can cool in the car as you head off to your next summer party.
I used blueberries and pecans because I think they are good flavor partners...but you can use any combination of fruits and nuts. It takes a minimum of 6 ounces of berries or cut up fruit.
You can leave the nuts out and it also works with gluten free flour (what an oxymoron) making it just about perfect. If you use a disposable pie pan you won't have to worry about getting your dish back.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, Bakers. Please let me know.
Happy Baking!
Colette
No Crust Blueberry Pie Cake Pie with Gluten Free Option
Equipment:
2 medium sized bowls
whisk
spatula
9” pie pan, buttered or sprayed with pan spray
4.25 ounces unbleached all purpose flour or gluten free flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces butter, melted
6 ounces sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of one medium lemon
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
½ teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
2 ounces toasted and chopped pecans
1/2 pint blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Whisk the flour (or gluten free blend), salt and baking powder together, set aside.
2. Whisk together, sugar, butter, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and optional lemon extract.
Wet (before mixing) and Dry Ingredients
3. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Fold the two together just until they are combined.
Do not over mix.
3. Fold in blueberries and pecans.
4. Pour batter into pie plate.
5. Bake at 350 and start checking in 25 minutes. The cakepie is done when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. if it starts to take on too much color then reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and finish the bake. Mine took 37 minute - make sure it is done - if you think that it needs more time - then give it another 5-7 minutes and check again.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.