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Saskatoon pie is a family favorite around these parts and indeed many a Canadian child has grown up loving the flavor of these little gems baked into a pie. This year I decided to fool around with our traditional recipe a little bit and tried baking it into a “cream” pie.
Fruit cream pies are not, as the title suggests, the pudding-like concoctions that we’ve come to know and love. Last year I baked up an Apples n’ cream pie as well as a peaches n’ cream pie, which has literal whipping cream added to the pie. The end result is an “a la mode” taste baked right into the pie, a unique and delicious twist to the ordinary fruit pie.
I had found the recipe in my Grandma’s repertoire last year for my PieDays and while it originally seemed a little wild for my tastes, I went ahead and baked it up.
The cream fruit pies were Mike’s favorites of the year, bar none. The peaches and cream pie just about made him swoon.
Saskatoon berries differ so much in size, juice amount and taste due to the fact that there are several different varieties of Saskatoon bushes/trees. My favorite has always been the Thiessen Saskatoon that bears a very large berry that is full of juice, has less seeds than most and a taste that makes angels sing.
I deliberately went to a UPick this year that had Thiessen Saskatoon bushes so that I knew I could score my favorite berries and not waste any time gathering any others. I wanted large, juicy berries to freeze and be used for pies this winter.
The recipe for this beauty is below, but I wanted to show you just how much cream you bake into these pies, thus the larger amount of cornstarch used.
When you cut the pie after cooling it a while, you can see that the juice has baked with the cream to bring you a firmer pie. There’s none of the usual juice running all over your plate, cream pies are a firm, very easy to slice pie.
Now while this will never, ever compare – in my books- to my Grandma’s traditional Saskatoon Pie recipe, it was a nice departure from the usual, a treat as one might say.
Mike, of course, loved this pie but I swear the man is just incredibly easy to please.
So this is for my readers that were looking to spice up their Saskatoon berry recipe box and add something new to the rotation! I’ve had many emails asking for new recipes, so here you are my lovelies!
Play around with the spices and vanilla, you may prefer more cinnamon to really kick it up a notch or less to let the Saskatoon berry flavor shine through a bit more.
Do you have any Saskatoon berry recipes that you’d like to share? What are your family favorites?
Have fun! Thanks for stopping by!
Love,
Karlynn
Saskatoons N’ Cream Pie
Ingredients
- 4 cups Saskatoon berries
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups whipping cream
- 4 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Kick the tires and light the fires to 400 degrees.
- Lay your crust in the bottom of the pie plate and fill it with the Saskatoon berries.
- Mix together the cream, sugars, cornstarch, spices and vanilla until everything is combined. It turns into this amazing creamy spiced mixture.
- Place the top crust on the pie and mark your vents on the top.
- Using the lowest rack of your oven, bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for about 40-45 minutes more.
- When your pie edges start to become too brown -and they always will- cover the edges with tinfoil or use a pie crust cover. If you haven’t bought a pie crust cover yet, do so. They are amazing! Continue baking until you see the pie filling bubbling through the vents and your pie is beautifully browned all over the top.
Notes
Nutrition
The Kitchen Magpie says
No, not even close! They are called serviceberries or
June berries in the states.
Ross Bellwood says
Are Saskatoon Berries really just Blueberries?
Pat Chychrun says
No, not at all, saskatoons taste quite different than blueberries. They are also a “reddish blue” colour. I prefer them to blueberries!
Rambling Tart says
This is beyond wonderful! One of the best Canadian memories I have of my childhood. 🙂