Fruit Filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup flour
pinch salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp almond extract
2 (16-oz) packages frozen blackberries, thawed and drained

Directions:
To make the crust and topping, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and add to the flour mixture. Process until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly, 30-60 seconds.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to use as the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake 12-15 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes.

To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon zest, and almond extract. Gently fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 45 to 55 minutes.

Blackberry Pie Bars – Adapted from Rebecca Rather, The Pastry Queen

Directions
1. Make the batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Using a small brush, lightly coat two 9-inch cake pans with softened butter or vegetable-oil cooking spray. Dust with flour and tap out any excess. Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and set aside. In a large bowl using a mixer set at medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending each thoroughly before adding the next. Scrape down sides and beat in vanilla extract. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the lemon juice and buttermilk and ending with the dry ingredients.

2. Bake the cake: Divide the batter equally between the pans and spread evenly. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a tester inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean — 20 to 30 minutes. Cool in the cake pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a knife, loosen the cake layers from the sides of the pans and invert the layers onto the wire rack to cool completely.

Blackberry-Cassis Jam
5 cup(s) fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup(s) cassis
2 tablespoon(s) cassis
1/2 cup(s) sugar
2 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon(s) lemon zest
2 tablespoon(s) cornstarch

Directions:
1. Make the jam: In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine blackberries, 1 cup cassis, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest and cook over medium-low heat until berries begin to soften — about 10 minutes.

2. Use a slotted spoon to remove only the berries. Place them in a medium bowl, lightly mash them, and strain the resulting liquid back into the saucepan. Set the strained berries aside. Dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining 2 tablespoons of cassis and stir the mixture into the hot berry juice.

3. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and cook, stirring often to avoid burning, until the liquid thickens and is reduced to half its original volume — about 2 cups.

4. Stir the reserved blackberries into the liquid. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Directions:
1. Make the frosting: In a large stainless-steel bowl placed over a pot filled with 1 inch of simmering water, place the egg whites and sugar. Use a whisk to beat the mixture until it is very hot to the touch (about 160 degrees F). Remove from heat and, using a mixer set on high speed, immediately begin whipping the mixture until it is cool, thick, and glossy and has tripled in volume — about 5 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium and add the butter — about a quarter cup at a time — allowing 5 to 10 seconds in between each addition. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray an 8×8 oven proof pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl mix the buttermilk, oil and vanilla.

Pour the liquid into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until just incorporated.

The batter will be almost like a shaggy dough.

Turn the batter out into the 8×8 pan.

Bake until done in the center and golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.

Serve hot or cold.

Cut the shortcake into 9 equal squares.

Serve in bowls topped with lots of berries and milk.

Lemon Sponge Cake:
The first step should be to make the meringue which gets folded into the cake batter. Separate 6 eggs. Reserve the yolks for a later step. Place 6 egg whites into a a large bowl and start beating on high with an electric mixer. SLOWLY sprinkle in 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 3/4 cup sugar, adding the sugar a bit at a time. Whip the egg white mixture until stiff peaks form.

In a bowl combine these dry ingredients- 1 3/4 cup cake flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup sugar. In a separate bowl combine these wet ingredients- 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 6 egg yolks, 3/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon lemon zest.

With an electric mixer, combine the wet and dry ingredients then gently fold in the meringue. Pour batter into a non-greased 10” tube pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Upon removing from oven, immediately flip the tube pan upside down to rest and cool on the pan’s feet or onto a bottle neck if your pan doesn’t have feet. Allow to completely cool. Run a knife around the edges before removing from pan. Slice cake horizontally into 3 even layers with dental floss or a very long serrated knife. 

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press into the bottom and sides of a deep dish 9-inch pie plate. Chill.

In a heavy saucepan, dissolve sugar and milk over medium-high heat, stirring, and remove pan from heat once sugar is dissolved. Whisk in peanut butter and vanilla until well-blended. Cool in a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water, stirring occasionally.

In another bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into peanut butter mixture. Turn mixture into pie crust, smoothing the top.

For garnish (optional), melt chocolate chips using a double boiler: place chips in double boiler over a saucepan of simmering water so that the double boiler doesn’t touch the water. Stir until the chocolate is melted; place melted chocolate into a plastic baggie and cut a small piece of the tip off. Pipe into swirls or other designs on top of pie.

Freeze pie, uncovered, until frozen hard, about 5 hours. Pie can be made up to 2 days ahead and frozen, covered with plastic wrap and foil after 5 hours. Let pie stand in refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to serving.

Directions:
Put whole lemons in a large pot over high heat, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer until soft, about 30 minutes. Drain; transfer lemons to a bowl of ice water. Cut lemons into quarters when they have cooled and gently remove seeds, retaining as much juice as possible. Blend lemons in a food processor until they’re a smooth, thick puree

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulse almonds in a food processor until nuts resemble coarse cornmeal. Put in a large bowl and add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.

Butter and flour a 9-inch pan with a removable rim. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in another large bowl until thick and pale yellow. Stir in lemon puree and almond extract. Add almond-flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in candied ginger. Set aside.

Beat egg whites in another large bowl until they form firm peaks. Gently fold egg whites into lemon batter. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Spread glaze over cake. Garnish with lemon slices.

Per Serving: 333 calories, 36 percent (119 cal.) from fat, 8.3 g protein, 13 g fat (1.9 g sat.), 51 g carbo (4.7 g fiber), 209 mg sodium, 106 mg chol.

From “The Sunset Essential Western Cookbook”

For the Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, very soft

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (reduce temperature to 325 degrees F if your pan is dark/non-stick). Grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2½ cups of the all-purpose flour, the baking powder and salt; set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl), use your fingertips to rub together the sugar and lemon zest until the zest is completely incorporated and the sugar is evenly moistened. Add the butter and cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a minute after each and scraping down the bowl before adding the next. Add the vanilla and mix briefly to combine.

5. With the mixer still on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beating until just barely combined, followed by ½ the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and the remaining flour.

7. Once the cake is cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and butter until smooth. The icing should be quite thick (if you’d like it thinner, you can add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, until you get it to the consistency you want). Use an offset spatula to spread the glaze on top of the cake, giving it a little nudge down every so often. The cake can be stored, covered, at room temperature for up to 4 days.

(Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Filling:
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Key lime juice
4 egg yolks
2 drops of green food coloring (optional)

Garnish:
1-2 limes (zest or small slice)
whipped cream

This is all the recipe said, LOL. So, I would mix the crushed gingersnaps with the melted butter and press into a pie plate. For the filling you mix all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate for several hours. Then garnish with whipped cream and lime slices, if desired.

If anyone is worried about the raw egg yolks, we’ve eaten them in lemon icebox pie that my grandmama use to make with never any problems. Just make sure you use fresh organic eggs.