Fresh Berry Crumb Pie

So I am at my Mum's house for the weekend. My sibling's and I know that usually being at my Mum's house means we get great food. Unless of course her husband has a say, and then its something out of a can and quite boring. However, if we plan out our meals when he's not around, we usually come up with a pretty fabulous menu. As the dessert portion of our menu, my mum decided that she really wanted to use some of her huge amounts of raspberries from her yard. This was the recipe she immediately knew we had to use. She told me about how my Aunt Sheila actually made this years ago, and it has since been one of her favorites.

I don't know if I liked it as much as her or not...I mean, I only had three helpings. All with a heaping scoop of ice cream. ;)

Yeah...you may want to get a tissue now. Wipe that drool off. This cobbler is delicious. So we decided we had to share the recipe!

Here's what you'll need:

Crumb Crust/Topping

1 c. hazelnuts or almonds

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

3/4 c. chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Filling

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

2 pints (about 4-5 cups) fresh berries, (for this one we used raspberries, but blueberries, strawberries or blackberries all work really well too...also Mum says she has used peaches)

Now, the recipe we have says to roast the nuts...but really, who wants to take the time to do that when it tastes great WITHOUT roasting your nuts? :) So, if you happen to have extra time on your hands, and would like to try out the roasting procedure...i'll include the directions to roast the nuts. Just know that it isn't necessary in order to produce a great cobbler.

To Roast Nuts:

Preheat oven to 350. Spread nuts in a medium baking pan, roast. Stir occasionally until toasted, about 10 minutes.

Remove nuts from the oven and turn out onto a cloth towel. Rub off and discard the papery skins.

Be sure to up your temperature to 450 F now for the cobbler!!

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the nuts until finely ground, about 10 seconds or so. We just used a blender and that worked great, but take note that if you process/grind the nuts too long...you'll start to make nut butter.

To prepare the Crust/Topping:

In a large bowl, mix together the nuts, flour, and sugar. Then, using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form.

Using your hands, evenly press half of the crumb crust/topping into the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch tart pan, or just into a 9x13 pan.

To prepare the filling:

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and the cornstarch. Gently mix in the berries. Spoon the berry mixture into the crust, spreading it out evenly.

Sprinkle the berry mixture evenly with the remaining crumb crust/topping.

Bake until topping is golden and filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes.

And definitely serve this baby with vanilla ice cream. We happened to have Marionberry Pie icecream and that was pretty delicious with it. :)