Joy the Baker

Buttermilk Pie with Blackberry Sauce

by 100 Comments

Update: I just got a lovely note from Barbara Duke, one of the authors of Panache at Rose Hill.  Here’s what she has to say about this lovely pie!

Hi Joy:
I’m Evan’s Mimi.  Just a little info about the buttermilk pie.  When our great, great grandmothers were traveling in those covered wagons, they had precious few ingredients for their recipes.  Buttermilk, meal, flour and eggs were staples.  Many creations came from those ingredients, including the buttermilk pie.  This particular recipe originated from the former owner of Rose Hill (where our restaurant was located).  His name was Mose Smith.  He won our local state fair cooking contest for his buttermilk pie.  When my partner and I bought the property and turned the Southern planter’s home into a restaurant, we altered the pie recipe somewhat (it had too much sugar in it), and added the blackberry sauce.  It became our signature dessert.  We have served that pie to guests from England, Japan, and everywhere in the USA to those  who have dined at our restaurant.  We had many tour groups from all over the world.  We feel food does not have to be complicated to be good, and of course all the love we put into it didn’t hurt.

I just woke up from one of those sloppy weekend naps. It was the kind of nap that left my face barely recognizable from marks from the pillow case folds. It was the kind of nap that might very well have taken place in the back seat of my car, at 173 degrees F. I feel like, lying here in my bedroom on this summer afternoon I may have just baked my brain. I can’t blog bout that, that’s not good for you.

I just took the kind of nap that makes me wish I could take it all back. It now feels like a mistake. I might have just felt better if I stood in the road and waited for Mac truck to hit me. I just took the kind of tragic, unforgiving nap that can only be healed with creamy coffee and buttermilk pie with warm blackberry sauce.

Keep reading, I have a story to tell you about this pie.

I met this girl. Ok, maybe ‘met’ is a strong work. She’s in Alabama, I’m in California. We’re blog buddies. Her name is Evan and she might be one of the most darling people of the face of the planet. Evan has a new blog called Buttercakes by Evan. If you love me at all you’ll hop on over there right now and show Evan some love.

Evan was recently kind enough to send me her grandmothers cookbook Panache at Rose Hill. See, Evan’s grandmother and her business partner bought a southern planters home of 25 acres of land. With a few loans, help from husbands, and a lot of elbow grease, they transformed the home into a beautiful restaurant and event site. The cookbook is an account of that journey, a brief history of the land and the house, and an absolutely amazing Southern cookbook.

I’m so honored to have this book. Thank you so much Evan.

I knew I had to try the Buttermilk Pie with Warm Blackberry Sauce. It sounded like the perfect southern treat. The pie bakes up pale and sweet, with just a hint of tang from the buttermilk. I served mine chilled with warm blackberry sauce. It’s gorgeous. Right now, it’s just the thing to cure my nap hangover.

Thank you Evan. Thank you bunches!

Buttermilk Pie with Warm Blackberry Sauce

Print this Recipe!

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 stick melted butter, slightly cooled.

1 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons pur vanilla extrct

1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Beat eggs slightly. Mix sugar and flour well and add to the eggs. Mix until creamy. Add melted butter, mixing well. Add buttermilk and vanilla extract. Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (my pie took about 1 hour and 15 minutes) until the custard sets. Tip: the custard will still jiggle a bit in the oven even when it’s set. Just make sure that the middle does not jiggle a lot more than the sides. That means it needs more time.

Blackberry Sauce

1/2 cup seedless blackberry preserves

1 Tablespoon Chamborde liqueur, also consider orange liqueur or a bit of Triple Sec

Pour the preserves in a saucepan and arm on medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whip until smooth. Remove from heat and add liqueur. Let cool slightly and drizzle over pie.

Pie Dough

2 sticks (8 ounces) cold unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk, cold

Cut butter into 1 inch pieces and place in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.

Sift together the flour and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Sifting eliminates lumps and aerates the mixture, making the dough tender and lighter. Add the partially frozen butter and the salt. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, or until the butter is reduced to the size of broken walnut meats. Stop the machine and by hand pinch flat any large pieces of butter that remain.

Turn the mixer on low speed and add the buttermilk all at once. Mix until the dough comes together, about 15 seconds. The dough should be tacky, but not sticky, and still rather shaggy.

Remove the dough from the bowl and quickly form into a rough disk. Wrap in plastic. Try not to overowrk the dough. Chill for at least 1 hour before rolling out. At this point the dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 weeks. For freezing roll the dough into sheets and wrap them in airtight plastic film first.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. um.. any chance you are willing to share the make/pattern name of the gorgeous bowl in the first shot? love. love. love.
    thanks.

    i will be making this pie immediately after work today. thank you!!

    Reply

  2. Hi Joy. I have wonderful memories of buttermilk pie. I grew up in a small, country town in Texas and my mom would pick up buttermilk pies on Sunday evenings from a restaurant in town. So good. Is there anything other than a liquer that I can mix with the preserves? My tee-totaling family would not approve…since I can’t really claim that the alcohol is cooked out.

    Reply

  5. Joy, that’s one tasty-looking pie! Although I admit, I had my doubts in the beginning – I could’ve sworn it was cheesecake. This one’s going in my recipe box… and that cookbook may be added to my collection sometime in the future.

    Kate

    Reply

  8. As a Southern boy I LOVE this sort of thing. Love love love. Fruit pies are fine but the truly great ones are few and far between sometimes. Stuff like this seems to always satisfy me, even the most mediocre custard and chess pies and stuff like that. Not that this looks mediocre! This one looks incredible! Must try this, it looks too easy to pass up.

    Reply

  9. i’m due for a nap like that. mine often result in a puddle of drool so large it disgusts even me…
    sorry, was that an overshare?
    anyway, this pie sounds awesome–good work! :)

    Reply

  12. I love those kind of naps. Sadly those are the ones I take and someone comes to the door and I greet them with the pillow marks and a little dried drool on the side of my mouth. Sexy. :)
    Speaking of sexy though, that is one hot looking pie. :)

    Reply

  14. No, thank YOU Joy for your wonderful and kind words! You have no idea how pleased my grandmother will be. Thank you, thank you. And you are quite amazing yourself! Keep up the awesomeness, homegirl!
    Ev

    Reply

  15. I love that first picture. The sauce made a heart. I am a sucker for hearts. Pie looks sooooo yummy! I seriously need to move closer to you. You could always use another taste tester right? LOL
    Clara @ iheartcuppycakes!

    Reply

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