I’ve been searching for an exercise I actually like doing for some time now, and it was looking bleak, when I stumbled upon Yoga With Adriene. I did a quick “Yoga for Self Respect” video, and something she said struck a chord with me. “We are at our best and can be of service to others when we feel like we are in alignment with who we truly are.” Sometimes I feel like I’m fighting really hard to do it all and have it all, but I really lose sight of my purpose and my end goal. Crafting blog posts is a struggle for authenticity. It’s hard to engage people with just talking about food, though if you know me, I can carry on a conversation about food for a weird amount of time.
Do you ever set intentions for the week or the day? This week I’m giving myself grace. From the pressures of blogging and looking at how many people like my Instagram. I’m giving myself grace to eat a piece of lemon pie, if I please. I’m allowing myself to appreciate my body for the good things it does, to work out when I need it, to eat better foods when I need it. But I’m also allowing myself to eat what I want, too, without feeling guilty.
Now onto what we’ve all been waiting for. This pie! So I made this Lemon Pie this weekend. I call it Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Pie because the filling only has 4 ingredients, and it’s a really simple and easy pie to whip up. Anyone can do it.
A lot of my best ideas come to me first thing in the morning. Yes, I dream about food. I actually came up with both this recipe and the other one for the week on the same morning. I go grocery shopping Thursday, so if I don’t have a great idea by Wednesday, my brain starts freaking out. And I inevitably dream about food that night and wake up with ten new recipes. It’s nothing short of miraculous.
These blackberries are the real star here. When I was a kid, my neighbor used to put strawberries in sugar and pop them in the refrigerator to soak. That was the first time I’d seen macerated fruit, and I was hooked! So I decided the berries would be a little bit runnier, messier, and sweeter rolled in sugar.
I also made my own whipped cream! It’s so simple. Just whip together whipping cream and two tablespoons of sugar. I chilled the bowl for five minutes in the freezer first to make sure my cream was nice and chilly. But listen, no one will judge you for using cool whip, promise.
Also, styling this shoot was hilarious. If you could only see all the hideous outtakes. First I tried a pile of whipped cream in the middle of the pie which looked nothing short of disgusting. Then I tried just berries–also hideous. Then smearing it gently all across the pie worked like a charm. I’d recommend highly for this pretty look.
Another foible of mine was the filling. I’m used to a very thin standard pie tin, and this new pie pan of mine is HUGE. So I had to double the filling to even get it to look like a real pie. Don’t worry, if you use a standard pie pan, you won’t need to do this.
I love blackberries. They make me think of picking blackberries in my Grandmother’s backyard. Such warm fuzzy memories.
So what are your intentions this week, friends? I encourage you to give yourself some self respect. Do a little yoga, and remember how great you are! Love you, readers! You’re what makes my blog worthwhile.
See the full recipe below.
- 1 cup blackberries
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ¾ package of biscoff cookies or other ginger cookie (about 6 ounces)
- 5 tbsp melted butter
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 2-3 lemons)
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- one 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- In a bowl, add the blackberries and 1 tbsp of the sugar. Mix together, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a food processor, pulse the cookies until fine crumbs. Transfer cookies to a large bowl. Add the melted butter and mix together with a spoon. Pour the mixture into a shallow 9 inch pie pan and press the mixture out with your fingertips until it covers the whole bottom and sides of the pie pan. Bake the crust for five minutes. Let the crust cool entirely before adding the filling.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix again until well combined. About one minute. Pour the filling mixture into your cooled pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pie is set. Let the pie cool completely before topping with the cream.
- To make the cream, add the whipping cream and the remaining 2 tbsp sugar to a mixing bowl. Whip with an electric mixer or wire whip until frothy. When it's ready, it should make a stiff peak when you pull the whisk out of the cream.
- Spread the whipped cream evenly over the cooled pie. Add the blackberries to the top and serve a little extra blackberries on each slice.
- *If you're using a deeper pie pan like I did, double the filling mixture and bake the pie for 30 minutes instead of 15.
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