Blackberry Budín

August 1 is Lammas, so we got out The Wicca Cookbook, and easily determined that we should make Blackberry Pudding. (We call it Budín, as it is called in Spanish, and also makes for a nice alliteration here.)

We have an abundance of blackberry brambles in our yard which did not produce at all last year. I expect they simply needed to be fallow, and chose their own time. This year we are once again enjoying their bounty.

Ingredients listed are as follows:

1 1/4 c. almond milk
1/2 c. ground almonds
1 1/4 c. water
1 pint fresh blackberries
1/3 red wine
2 T. rice flour
1/3 t. sugar 
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. ground ginger
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. butter
2 T. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. currants or raisins.

I adjusted the recipe a bit. It called for almond milk, but I just used regular old milk. It also suggests using red wine vinegar, but since I had blackberry-ginger vinegar on hand it seemed like an appropriate substitution. I also used regular flour in place of rice flour. I misread teaspoon as tablespoon for the sugar, and even so it wasn't very sweet. I'd add even a bit more next time. I did not measure either of the spices. I simply dumped in as much as I thought would be good. Again, next time I will use even more. I added more raisins than called for as well, for sweetness.

I started by soaking the blackberries in the red wine, meanwhile since I had whole almonds I used the blender to grind them. I then added the blackberries, other liquids, flour, sugar, salt, and spices. Once it was all liquid I poured it into a saucepan and stirred until it came to a boil. I let it boil to thicken for a few minutes, then removed from heat and stirred in the butter and vinegar. I chilled the pudding in the refrigerator for about two hours, and we had it for dessert, topped with some vanilla yogurt. 

It is a bit grainy, and the blackberry seeds got stuck in my teeth, so those who are bothered by these textures may wish to forgo this recipe.