By REBECCA HATTAWAY

Staff Writer

news1@claremoreprogress.com

Krista Merriman says she is no master baker, but the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens tells a different story.

Her special Blackberry Cream Pie is among nine reader submissions featured in the Special Reader Issue’s American Pie Contest.

“I was up one night with my twins and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I was online and found the contest,” said the Claremore mom. “I had actually lost this recipe for a while and had just found it, so it was on my mind.”

She entered the contest in April and got a call from the magazine’s food editor in early June saying her recipe had been chosen.

“The food editor asked me where I had gotten the recipe, and I wanted to joke and say ‘In last month’s Southern Living,’” Merriman laughed. “But really, my cousin gave it to me five or six years ago.”

Merriman said it’s one of her favorites as a busy mother of four.

“I told them I love this recipe because I can make it. I love to cook, but I’m not a baker or a great pie maker, but I can make this and it’s always good. I also like it because it’s not traditional. Generally, we think of pies around the holidays — pumpkin, buttermilk — but this is great in the summer.”

Merriman’s entry was one of hundreds submitted in the contest.

“It was surprising and fun when the food editor called and said the recipe was chosen,” Merriman said. “She said they thought it was a great end-of-summer pie and they thought the breadcrumb topping was unique.”

However, when Merriman got her copy in the mail, she found that Better Homes and Gardens had made some changes to the recipe and had given it a new name.

“I sent it in as Blackberry Cream Pie, but they changed it to Blackberry Swirl Pie,” she said. “They also did away with the breadcrumb topping, but it’s probably better. I need to try it!”