Blackberry Pie Bars

in Blackberries, Cherries & Berries, Cookies and Bars, Pies and Tarts, Project Pastry Queen

Blackberry Pie Bars

This week’s Project Pastry Queen challenge is being brought to you by Josie of Pink Parsley: Blackberry Pie Bars. A moist, tangy cobbler/pie/bar dessert/snack/breakfast hybrid that requires no utensils – the perfect dessert to take to a picnic or barbecue. Or the perfect breakfast to eat on the living room floor. I love blackberries. They grew wild along our fence line so we used to pick them all summer long for cobbler. MMMmm. Cobbler.

I had quite a few self-inflicted problems with the recipe this week. You know those times when you plow full-steam-ahead into a recipe that you didn’t completely read? Or… you know, even read at all? You just assume that you know what’s going to happen? And then you find yourself elbow deep in mistakes before you even get to step 3? Yeah…

Blackberry Pie Bars

Hi, my name is Shawnda. And I almost never read a recipe before I get started. It’s a sickness. I’ve lost count at the number of times that I’ve run into an over-night step in a dish when dinner is an hour away. Or like this week, I assumed the recipe was going one direction when really it was headed in another. In a bigger pan. One that could actually hold all the contents of the recipe.

Despite all the missteps I made along the way, they were really tasty. Serving them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was the perfect send off!

This is what we did differently… not all of them were intentional.

      – I cut the recipe in half because who needs that many blackberry pie bars hanging around, singing their sweet siren song from the kitchen counter all day long? We (I) don’t.
      – I cut the sugar by half again.
      – I used 1 lb fresh blackberries because they were on sale and cheaper than frozen.
      – I put the juice of a lemon in the bottom of my measuring cup before adding the sour cream – because blackberry + lemon = love.
      – I added water to the “pie crust” because I assumed we were making a pie crust. We weren’t. So don’t add water.
      – I bonked on the math when I was trying to figure if my 9-inch tart pan would hold the contents of an 8×8 square pan. (It won’t.)
      – When I poured the filling into the tart pan, I realized that I had really bonked on the math. Even worse than I had first thought.
      – I didn’t grease the sides of the tart pan well enough and, it stuck. Like glue. And not just any glue. Completely possessed, demon-spawn glue.

You can see the other Project Pastry Queen members’ take on Blackberry Pie bars:
Pink Parsley
Fake Ginger
20 Something Cupcakes
Smells Like Home

Thanks to Josie for picking such a delicious recipe! Next week, we’re going sticky & gooey with Sticky Finger Bars! Well, I assume they’re sticky & gooey. I haven’t read the recipe. Yet.

14 comments… add one
  • I’m horrible about reading recipes too – I usually just write down ingredients and guess what needs to happen with them! Oh well, it looks like yours turned out delicious anyway!

  • I laughed my way through this entire post! I used to do that with Michael Symon recipes when I was cooking through his book (odd because I’m actually pretty good at reading through recipes beforehand…just not his). The pie bars look like they turned out deliciously though…which is all that really matters. Even if they gave you some gray hairs along the way.

  • Hahahaha… love this post! 🙂

  • hahha! I always think that I’ve read a recipe correctly (ahem…skimmed it correctly), and then something seems to jump out of nowhere. I can’t count the number of times I’ve asked the hubby to run to the store for butter, eggs….or pretty much anything else! Regardless, your pie looks fantastic!!

  • haha, sometimes I do that too!

  • I do the same thing – I’ve lost count of the number of problems I’ve had that were 100% my fault because I didn’t bother to read the recipe before I started. Clearly I’m never going to learn that lesson 🙂

  • A few things:
    -I love the wood background
    -I love the tart shape – so pretty!
    – I’m bad about checking if I have ingredients – Joey had to make a grocery store run at 1o:30 Saturday night for gelatin. Whoops!

  • Stunning photos and love the tart pan idea, Shawnda! I too am horrible about reading directions in advance – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the “preparing dinner at 6pm that should have been marinated overnight” issue. I also had a total brain-fart making this recipe as I was trying to sub ingredients and cut them in half and ended up with oatmeal in the filling and 1/2 stick additional butter than I really needed. Oh well…

  • i have problems reading ahead too…yours still looks beautiful though!!!

  • Alright, add me to this list! I am such a felon of skimming a recipe or not reading it ALL the way through before baking and/or cooking.

    That aside, your pie looks gorgeous and tasty!

  • What a beautiful picture! I too am terrible at reading directions so don’t feel bad. 🙂

  • I know what you mean about not always fully reading ahead on a recipe. I have had to make many creative ingredient substitutions because I didn’t have something I ended up needing and was too far into it to make a trip to the store. 🙂

  • WOW! These look incredible and you take such gorgeous photos!!

  • hahahaha. I am so guilty of that too!! I am always improvising because I realize that I don’t have something. Like sprinkles for a funfetti cake. Ya that’s me.

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