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Northwest Wild Huckleberry Cheese Pie with Almond Shortbread Cookie Crust

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huckleberry cheese pie 2

 

If you’ve never had a huckleberry….you are truly missing out! Considered a super fruit, even more nutritious than blueberries, these beautiful little berries are in a flavor class all of their own! Though kind of similar to blueberries, they have a very distinct flavor that’s hard to describe, other than – – blueberries on Viagra! 😀

I never would’ve even heard of them if it hadn’t been for my hubby, who lived most of his life in Tacoma, Washington, and had relatives in Idaho where the berries grow naturally on the sides of mountains.

He used to go huckleberry picking and got paid quite nicely, because these berries have to be hand-picked from the bushes. They can’t seem to invent a machine that can pick them, so that’s why they are a bit expensive. Worth every red cent, though! If not for their nutritional value, but for their intense flavor! 

After longing for a pie, I spied several bags in the freezer that I’ve been hoarding, and decided that I’d better start using them before huckleberry season swings around again! I had remembered a simple pie that I used to make back when I was in high school, and feeling nostalgic, decided that would be a perfect combination for these berries. A creamy, cheesy, refrigerator pie! 

I also had a box of Girl Scout Shortbread Cookies that had been sitting in the pantry for almost a year. Since it was completely unopened, I crossed my fingers that they were still ok and not stale. And yep, I tested a few….and had to open a new sleeve for the crust. Oops. 

And since I wanted a slight almond flavor in the backseat, I decided to add some ground almonds to the crust as well. I somehow ended up with tons of extra almonds from this holiday’s baking and definitely needed to use some of those up, too. 

 

almond shortbread cookie crust

 

The only odder than odd problem I had was with the cream cheese. So strange! I’ve always used Philadelphia Cream Cheese, love their products, but this particular package was really funky. It was like it had thousands of little beads of gelatinous pearls like mini tapioca all through it! No matter what I did, I could not beat them or whisk them, or even scare them out getting the cream cheese to a creamy state.

*And this happened during the first mixing with the sweetened condensed milk, before the lemon juice concentrate was added, just to clarify. The beads were not lemon pulp. 

I just hope they haven’t compromised their product and are adding these as a cheap stabilizer, and that this was just a fluke. You can clearly see them in the photo.

Luckily, you couldn’t tell at all in the final product that they were there, the filling tasted good, and I’m sure the cream cheese wasn’t spoiled or anything like that.

I’ll let you know if this happens again, though! But here’s the tasty-but-not-so-pretty filling… 

 

 

cheese pie filling

 

 

After that disappointing experience, I quickly got into a better mood when I got out the berries!

I knew that they wouldn’t let me down! And they were absolutely magical! Just look how gorgeous this homemade huckleberry topping came out! It never fails! 😀  

 

 

huckleberry pie topping

 

 

The only difficult thing about this pie….is the waiting for each layer to chill!!

 

 

huckleberry cheese pie 3

 

 

I then whipped up a dab of cream cheese frosting just for decoration. Because, this pie was so pretty it deserved a tiara! 😉  

 

 

 

huckleberry cheese pie 4

 

 

And little slivered almonds were the jewels! What’s a tiara without jewels?!

 

 

huckleberry cheese pie

 

 

So if you’ve never tried these incredibly delicious berries, now’s the time! If they still have some frozen ones in stock, you can order them online.

You can order from numerous companies, but we really like NW Wildfoods. A really nice father and son company, but you may have to wait until they come back in season. But be sure not to miss out! These berries should be on everyone’s food bucket list! 😉

Hope you enjoy, and please Think Spring!  We received about a 3″ – 4″ blanket of snow last night….so winter is still hanging on! I’m about ready to shoot Old Man Winter in the patootie with a bazooka. 

 

My recipe received Most Clicks! 

FFFriday Host fave H. Pie

 

NORTHWEST WILD HUCKLEBERRY CHEESE PIE with ALMOND SHORTBREAD COOKIE CRUST

1 – 9″ pie

 

For Shortbread Cookie Crust:

1 sleeve Girl Scout Shortbread cookies, finely crushed, (or 1 1/2 cups fine crumbs)

1/2 cup slivered almonds, finely ground

2 1/2 Tbl. melted butter

 

For Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temp

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

1/3 cup lemon juice concentrate

1 Tbl. vanilla

1/4 tsp. almond extract

 

Huckleberry Topping:

2 cups frozen huckleberries

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbl. sugar

1/8 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/8 cup cold water

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. almond extract

1 Tbl. butter, cut up

1 cup more frozen huckleberries

 

DIRECTIONS:

For Crust:

Place cookies and almonds in food processor. Process until fine crumbs. While running, stream in melted butter. Press evenly into bottom and up sides of a 9″ pie dish. Bake in 350 degree oven for 8 minutes. Cool on rack completely.

 

For Cheese Filling:

Beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth and lump free, scraping bowl well as needed. Add rest of ingredients and beat again until smooth.  Evenly spread onto bottom of cooled pie shell. Chill for several hours or overnight until firm.

 

For Huckleberry Topping:

Place 2 cups of frozen berries and sugar into medium saucepan. Over medium heat, Gently stir occasionally and cook until sugar has dissolved, there’s some juice, and mixture comes to a boil. Stir in cornstarch slurry, and continue cooking and gently stirring until very thick and clear. Remove from heat and stir in extracts and butter until melted. Fold in last 1 cup frozen berries. Set aside to cool completely. When cool, spoon and gently spread on top of pie. 

Decorate top with frosting and slivered almonds if desired. 

Gary

Monday 9th of December 2024

Hi Kelly, I have a question about the Northwest wild huckleberry cheese pie with almond shortbread cookie crust recipe. I am trying to put it together and it appears I am just going to have to experiment. The recipe calls for "Lemon Juice Concentrate" and it is mentioned in your narration. However, I have been unable to find lemon juice concentrate. I can find frozen lemonade concentrate and lemon juice FROM concentrate but not the concentrate. This presents a problem as the viscosity of the two products is quite different and the flavor of the concentrate is much more intense. So I am afraid that using 1/3 cup of the juice in the cream cheese mixture would possibly make it too liquid and the flavor may not be as intense. I am in the midst of the preparation and I guess I'll find out, but please advise me about which product is proper and if it is the concentrate---where I can find it. Thanks.

Wednesday 11th of December 2024

@Gary,

I just use Real Lemon brand. (It is "lemon juice from concentrate".) Hope that helps!

Carol Jons

Friday 10th of March 2017

can you use huckleberry pie filling for the topping instead of making the topping separately?

Kelly

Friday 10th of March 2017

You sure can! :)

Cindy @ Hun... What's for Dinner?

Wednesday 2nd of April 2014

This is a gorgeous pie!! I've yet to try huckleberries. Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.

Roxy | Roxy's Kitchen

Wednesday 2nd of April 2014

Oh my, can I have a slice now? It looks amazing... I love the huckleberry topping! Thanks again for sharing this at my Facebook Milestone Link Party, and for posting the badge :)!

Joanne T Ferguson

Saturday 29th of March 2014

G'day! ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Kelly! Thanks for the link back and badge! GREATLY appreciate! Thanks for sharing it at the Foodie Friends Friday #Foods That Make You Smile Party! Cheers! Joanne

Kelly

Sunday 30th of March 2014

Thanks, Joanne! Just saying "Huckleberry" makes me smile! :D