Berry Lemon Skillet Custard Pie

Breakfast, snack, dessert -- doesn't matter, this Berry Lemon Custard skillet pie got eaten for all of them. It was pretty delicious and easy to make. I had a bunch of blackberries and boysenberries from my bushes that needed eaten so I decided to go a different route than my normal blackberry tarts and adapt a recipe from Family Circle for a plain blackberry custard. 

I didn't have quite enough blackberries and boysenberries so I added raspberries to the mix. Really you could use any mixture of berries you have on hand. This recipe is simple to make but does take a good 40 minutes to hour of oven time. So, plan ahead. But this recipe is just as good served cold as it is warm so it can literally be eaten the next day and was in my house. All day, in fact, for breakfast, snack and dessert. 

I made mine lactose free for the lactose intolerant kids in my house. 

Your custard is going to look like this before it goes in the oven, 

Berry Lemon Skillet Custard Pie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups milk (we use LACTAID milk but you could use a coconut milk in this recipe).

1/3 Cup plus 2 TB sugar

2/3 Cup flour

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TB lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

lemon zest (from about 1/2 a lemon)

3 Cups of fresh berries (I used blackberries, boysenberries and rasberries)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit

2. Spray an oven safe skillet with nonstick spray

3.Combine milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, four and salt in a blender. 

4. Blend until smooth. 

5. Pour blended batter into skillet. 

6. Place berries on top of batter (they will sink).

7. Sprinkle with lemon zest.

Bake for 40 minutes to an hour until inserted toothpick comes out clean and sides begin to puff. Serve warm or chilled. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar if desired. 

Berry Drop Biscuits

A Blueberry Biscuit Story:

It started out with a craving. I saw a pic of some blueberry biscuits on Pinterest. And well I have been thinking of blueberry biscuits ever since. I have pinned a few of those recipes. But they just were not what I was looking for.

I decided to go back to the roots of this blog as I developed this recipe. Many of the original recipes on this blog were my attempts to use my pantry and food storage to make delicious food.

I decided to see what I could find in my food storage to make this happen. Instead of buying fresh or frozen blueberries, which are expensive right now, I decided to use some homemade blackberry jam (made this summer from my very own blackberries) and some of Trader Joe's freeze dried blueberries. They have these relatively inexpensive packs of freeze dried blueberries that hold about a half a cup of blueberries. I have been stocking up on these things.

I was in a hurry to get food on the table Saturday night after running a big event all day. I needed simple and fast. I decided to use Bisquick instead of opting for scratch. At least one box of Bisquick should be in every pantry for quick cooking solutions. I also like it because it has no butter or milk like some mixes and we have to do a lot of lactose free baking in our house.

I substituted coconut milk for the milk in this recipe for my lactose free eating girl. I prefer coconut milk (the kind in a carton, not a can) over soy milk for baking because of taste issues. You can use regular milk in this recipe.

I loved these easy and fruity biscuits. They were on the table in 15 minutes. And we ate All of them -- more than a dozen.

Berry Biscuits.

2 1/4 cups of Bisquick
2/3 Cup coconut or regular milk
1/4 cup freeze dried or fresh blueberries
2 TB of blackberry jam

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Stir Bisquick and milk until well combined. Fold in blueberries and blackberry jam.

Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until top starts to get golden.

Triple Berry Muffins

I had the most prolific boysenberry and blackberry bushes this year. We made jam, syrup, pies, sorbet and we ate a ton of berries right off the bush. It was my garden's crowning achievement this year. 

But we are finally winding down. And I am not pulling these jeweled babies off by the bowl full anymore. So it was time for some muffins. A nice surprise for my kiddos (I never make breakfast in the morning.) I also had some raspberries from the roadside fruit stand. I wanted something with a little lemon twist and so I googled blackberry muffins and found this tasty recipe from Southern With A Twist. 

I made a few twists of my own. I wanted three berries in my muffins and I needed them lactose free (for the lactose intolerant kiddo). So we changed out the milk and margarine. We have discovered that muffins and cookies are often the culprit of her flare ups when we eat out or travel.

• MUFFINS:
• 1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 c soy milk
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 1/2 c fresh blackberries, boysenberries and raspberries.
• 
  
• TOPPING:
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 1/3 c all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c butter, room temp (I used a lactose free margarine)
• 
  

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 8 muffin cups or line with muffin liners and set aside.
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest and baking powder in a medium bowl.
3. In another bowl, combine vegetable oil, egg and milk, and mix with a fork. Add lemon juice. Pour into the flour mixture and mix well. Fold in blackberries. Mixture will be quite sticky, so use caution not to mash the berries when folding in. Fill muffin cups to the top.
4. To make crumb topping, mix together sugar, flour and butter (margarine). Mix with fork and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.