Black & Blueberry Bourbon Crumble Pie and the New Music Bake Sale

Sunday marked the annual New Music Bake Sale, one of my favorite musical events of the season. Everyone brought their A-game this year - there was some serious baking going on in Brooklyn last week! I sampled chicken empanadas, gluten-free goat cheese and tangerine tarts, coconut jelly shooters, killer meatballs, and probably the best "feed" i've ever tasted. 

For Ensemble, Et Al.'s table, I made a few pies to accompany Charlie's outstanding mango salsa. I also brewed up an iced batch of Blue Lady Tea's organic ceylon, but I promise that's not nearly as exciting as the pie I'm about to share with you:

This pie is sinfully delicious - jam packed with flavor - just boozy enough to feel scandalous - i want to eat it every day!!! The best part is I made it up and I'm going to give away my recipe right here. Because sharing is caring :-)

Black & Blueberry Bourbon Crumble Pie

For the crumble:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed muscovado sugar

1/4 cup sliced raw almonds

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2/3 cup chilled unsalted butter, diced into 1/2-inch cubes

For the Filling:

1 9-inch pie crust (that's a secret for another time...)

1/4 cup dried blueberries

1/4 cup bourbon

two 6 oz. boxes of fresh blueberries

one 6 oz. box of fresh blackberries

3/4 cup sugar

juice from half a lemon (about two TBSP)

zest from a whole lemon

3 TBSP cornstarch

Crumble - combine all but butter in a medium bowl, and then incorporate butter with fingertips until a crumbly meal forms. Chill at least 15 minutes before baking. 

Pie - preheat oven to 350*F

-In a small bowl, combine dried blueberries and bourbon

-In a large bowl, combine fresh berries, sugar, lemon zest and juice until sugar appears syrupy

-Roll out pastry dough, set in 9-inch pie dish and place in freezer
-Add bourbon/berry mixture to fresh berries
-Incorporate cornstarch into berry mixture just before you're ready to bake
-Pour berry mixture into prepared pie crust and top with chilled crumble
-Bake until crumble appears golden brown (approx 45-60min)

*let cool at least two hours before serving so the filling can set

Happy Hump Day

Today I dream of spring, and all the lovely things I'll be doing out of doors very soon...



A few links for your perusal:

Poly pong deserves a spot at all gaming bars starting now!

Since losing my butterprint Pyrex bowl I've been heartbroken. This helps fill the void.

My two favorite snack foods have joined forces. I can die happy now.

There was once a time when selfies were not ironic.

I have a nagging feeling that my coffee will taste better if I get this.

I can't believe it's not Parmesan!

and lastly -
If you like cupcakes and bacon and Brooklyn and new music, go here this Sunday.

music and munchies from sunday

Sunday night at 7pm boyfriend hit the stage at Roulette with Brooklyn-based band Ensemble, et al. for the 4th Annual New Music Bake Sale :-) Check them out HERE

They rocked it!!!

Among my other favorite performances of the night = Claire Chase of ICE, and ZS - both have MAD skills

...

In between watching each set and working our table (it was a bake sale don't forget), I meandered a bit and sampled some goodies. I wasn't really in a picture mood on Saturday so I don't have much proof of all the yummy food I ate, but I did snap this one of a really cute cupcake.

The last shot I got was of some neighboring booths - my friend Molly Yeh, of blog my name is yeh, is smack dab in the middle selling deliciously addictive sriracha cheez-its and other goodies. 

Yay new music!!

Pizza for sale, and good music too!

The New Music Bake Sale is coming up next weekend and to support boyfriend's percussion quartet [ensemble, et al.] I'm making pizza. Not just any pizza. My mom's pizza. Actually, I should probably give my nonna credit, but my mom is the one that kicked it up a notch.

home made crust

whole plum tomatoes (preserved from last august)

caramelized onions

olives

capers

lots of extra virgin olive oil

and a sprinkling of pecorino romano cheese

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I love leisurely weekend meals with the family when my mom bakes bread and we snack on cheese and home cured olives. We spend hours on end in the kitchen just chatting and drinking wine and eventually the antipasti bowl needs a refill. 

In the cold winter months she's been making a lot of soups. This lentil soup below is one of my more delicious memories of the recent past. And of course the pizza with fennel and goat cheese wasn't bad either!

Anyway, I'll be baking away next week preparing for the bake sale - it's at Roulette in Brooklyn. Come support local musicians!!! And eat tasty baked goods!!