Next up, blackcurrants! One of our blackcurrant bushes produced particularly big and tasty berries this year; the other one apparently decided to take the year off.

 

I decided that the almondy yumminess that is tosca topping would likely work with a blackcurrant pie too, and it does. Nom. I didn’t add any sugar into the filling as I wanted this to be very-berry’y, and I think that the slightly tart and delish berries worked really well with the sweet topping (not to mention the accompanying vanilla sauce!). Do feel free to add sugar, if you like things sweeter!

 

Tosca Blackcurrant Pie




Crust:
250 ml all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
100 g butter, softened
1 egg yolk




Filling:
500 ml fresh blackcurrants
2 tablespoons blackcurrant liqueur (crème de cassis)
2 teaspoons potato starch
(sugar, if you like – you will also need to use more potato starch as sugar means more liquid!)




Tosca topping:
100 g butter
75 ml sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
50 ml milk
100 g flaked almonds




Grease a 24 cm pie plate.
To make crust: Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Mix in butter until crumbly. Add egg yolk and mix well. Press into the bottom and sides of the pie plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200 C. Bake the crust for 12-15 minutes or until just beginning to turn golden around the edges.
Increase oven temperature to 225 C.
To make filling: Combine blackcurrants, blackcurrant liqueur and potato starch (and sugar, if using) in a bowl. Pour mixture into the pre-baked pie crust.
To make topping: Melt butter in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add sugar, flour, milk and flaked almonds. Bring the mixture gently to boil, stirring every now and then. Remove from the heat as soon as the first boiling bubbles appear!
Immediately spread topping over the berries.
Bake at 225 C for 10-15 minutes, or until the topping begins to turn golden.
Serve lukewarm with ice cream or vanilla sauce.