My parents own land about an hour and half north of us in Louisiana. A good chunk of the land is covered in blackberry bushes, so several weekends ago we headed up to their land to pick.
Picking blackberries in the blazing sun in Louisiana is not for the faint at heart. We donned jeans, long sleeve shirts, rubber boots, gloves, hats and sunglasses. We sprayed ourselves with bug spray and armed with buckets took off into the thick brush. We watched the ground making sure no snakes or alligators were visible before stepping. However also keeping an eye out for bears, because they have been seen in the area. 
After battling thorns and the heat, we emerged victorious – well we had blackberries at least. You think I was joking about the alligators, but I am not. On our drive home, we spotted this guy crossing the road about a mile from my parents land.
Now with a bunch of blackberries I had to figure out what to do with them. While I could make cobbler, jam or muffins, I settled on blackberry cheesecake hand pies. I did not use all of our berries so I will probably make freezer jam and use the remaining in smoothies.
After you make the blackberry mixture and the cheesecake mixture, unroll your refrigerator pie crust on to your parchment lined baking sheet. Using a circle cookie cutter (I used a 2 inch one but you can use any size you have), cut out 16 circles. Remember you need two circles for each pie or if you end up with an odd number, you could fold that one in half.
Next, add the cheesecake mixture about 2 teaspoons and about 2 teaspoons of the blackberry mixture (try not to get a lot of the liquid).
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 cup fresh blackberries
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 box refrigerator rolled pie crust
- 1/2 8oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan.
- Stir in blackberries and lemon juice.
- Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.
- Boil for 1 minute.
- Let cool.
- Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Set aside.
- Unroll your refrigerator pie crust on to your parchment lined baking sheet. Using a circle cookie cutter (I used a 2 inch one but you can use any size you have), cut out 16 circles. Remember you need two circles for each pie or if you end up with an odd number, you could fold that one in half.
- Next, add the cheesecake mixture about 2 teaspoons and about 2 teaspoons of the blackberry filling (try not to get a lot of the liquid).
- Place another pie crust circle on top. Using a fork seal, press down along the edges to seal. This is the perfect job for kids!
- Bake 350˚ for 10-12 minutes.
What a great use for freshly picked berries! That sounds like quite an undertaking to pick them, though…I’m not sure I’d last very long!
It’s been so long since I’ve had any cheesecake. These sound so yummy! Now if only I could find some local blackberries around here…
Thank you Gina!
These look and sound great. I want to try these. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!