Red & Black Fruit Pie

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 50 minutes
Makes 6-8 servings (but I the first time I made this pie, I ate half of it in short time!)

INGREDIENTS

For the batter:
150 grams (just shy of 1 cup) all-purpose flour (D: type 550; F: type 55)
120 ml milk (1/2 cup)
3 eggs
100 grams (½ cup) of softened butter
I just zap the butter 20-30 sec in the microwave oven - careful: it may explode if you go for much more than 30 sec!
150 grams of fine crystal sugar (well-rounded 1/2 cup)
150 grams of ground almonds
I actually just used a standard 125 grams package (5 oz. = 1 lightly packed cup) and that worked out fine
1 standard package (11 grams = 1 flat tablespoon) of baking powder
2.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract (no artificial flavoring!)
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

For the filling:
900 grams (2 lbs) of red and black fruits (red currants, black currants, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.)
Fresh fruit is great; rinse and blot dry. Cut strawberries in half.
I typically use a 1 kg (2.2 lbs) bag of frozen red & black fruit. Works great! Defrost briefly in a colander under running warm water. Let juices drain well, toss and lightly (!!) press to drain - otherwise the pie will be too soggy!
50 grams (1/4 cup) of pine nuts (pignoli, pignolia, D: Pinienkerne; F: pignon; I: pinoli)

EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES

2 large bowls
Hand-mixer or kitchen machine
Colander or sieve
Quiche pan with 25 cm (10 inch) diameter, or a 23x23 cm (9x9 inch) square pie pan
Parchment "oven paper"
Spatula

PREPARATION / DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C (355 °F)
In the large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and spices until at least doubled in volume
This takes about 3 minutes at high speed with a hand mixer or kitchen machine
Add the milk, butter, and almond powder and beat some more
Line the quiche pan with parchment paper. Make sure to have at least 5 cm (2") of paper sticking out beyond the edge of the pan: the dough will rise, and you don't want a mess at the bottom of your oven....
Pour the batter into the pan and spread out with a spatula
Spread the fruit on top of the batter
I keep the fruit in a large bowl, and scoop fruit with a large rubber spatula, while squeezing each scoop against the inside of the bowl before transferring it to the pie pan. This way, there is less juice that would otherwise make the pie too soggy.
Spread the pine nuts over the fruit
Put at the center of the oven, and bake for 50 minutes
The dough will rise and turn dark golden

Note: excess oven paper was cut off after baking

SERVING & GARNISH SUGGESTIONS