We moved recently (again, yes, I know), but this is a final move for us. If you’ve been around here for a while, I started my blog in 2010 while living in northern California. I was fresh out of graduate school and needed a hobby, so I decided to share small batch desserts with you on the internet. Strange how, from that little decision, so much has come. Eventually, work moved us all around (even back to my hometown of Dallas for a few years), but we have officially settled in southern California. I’m new to having lovely weather all day long, but the thing I missed most about California came rushing back to me instantly. The fresh produce. The fields full of it. I live near a lot of berry farms, and somehow managed to land a neighbor that owns acres of of raspberries. When bowl after bowl of fresh raspberries kept landing on my doorstep, I knew I needed a delicious way to use them. I wanted to make a raspberry pie, but opted for something more portable and share-able. These raspberry pie cookies were born.
How to Make Raspberry Pie Cookies
Anytime you bake with fresh fruit, it contains so much water. Pies are notoriously runny because of this, and the best you can do is thicken it with cornstarch. For these raspberry pie cookies, however, we’re going to spread a layer of flour, almond meal and sugar underneath the berries. As the berries cook and melt in the oven, their juices will be absorbed by the almond meal, making a frangipane-like filling. It’s exactly as delicious as it sounds. I haven’t even told you about my go-to pie crust recipe! I use cream cheese in my pie curst, because it’s just better than way. And while this is a small-batch dessert blog, the recipe below is for a full-size double pie crust. So, you can make these cookies, or you can save this recipe for a full-size cream cheese double pie crust.
Ingredients
Cream Cheese. One 8-ounce brick of cream cheese, softened to a cool room temperature, but not overly warm. Butter. Two sticks of unsalted butter, or 8-ounces. Also slightly softened but not overly warm. Flour. Two cups of flour for the pie crust, and another two tablespoons for the filling beneath the raspberries. Sugar. Just two tablespoons of granulated sugar for the raspberry filling. These raspberry cookies aren’t overly sweet. Almond Meal. Two tablespoons of finely ground almonds. You can use almond flour or almond meal. Typically, almond meal contains the skins of the almonds and is slightly coarser. Both will work well here. If you don’t have almond meal or almond flour, place ¼ cup of whole raw almonds in a high-speed blender or coffee grinder to make your own. Raspberries. We need 9 ounces, about 1 ½ packages of fresh raspberries. Do not use frozen for this recipe–they contain too much water when they defrost. Egg Yolk. One egg yolk for brushing on the cookies before baking. This is entirely optional, but it does help the cookies have a golden brown crust.
Instructions
Tips and Tricks for Pie Cookies:
