Blueberry Pie

It happened again this weekend...the amazing blueberry sale at the supermarket came back.  Last year, the sale was offering blueberries at 99 cents a pint.  This year, you could buy a case of 6 pints for $7.00.  Maybe not as good as last year, but whatever...this sale was still pretty legit, and I made sure to take full advantage of it.  My love for fresh blueberries is just too much to let something like this pass by.  I think I bought two cases on Sunday. I think my mom went back and bought a couple more cases this week.  That's a lot of blueberries. Here's the sad part though...we don't really have that many left...

 

You'd think that buying tons and tons of blueberries like we did would ensure that they would last quite some time, but you'd actually be wrong.  My sister and I kind of just...ate them.  We ate SO many.  I didn't even get to freeze any of them!  What is wrong with me!  What am I going to do later in the year when there are no fresh blueberries to be found!?  Thank goodness for rainchecks...phew!  I still have a chance to get some more berries, and I promise to stick those straight in the freezer and store them for later in the year.  But until I get myself to the supermarket to do that, let me tell you what I did with the berries that I was able to restrain myself from eating straight out of the container.  I made a fresh blueberry pie! 

I’ve always loved pie, and it’s been a dessert that I’ve always looked forward to enjoying, and recently, making myself.  Apple is usually my go-to choice, followed by peach, but blueberry…there’s something special about blueberries.  I don’t know, I just really happen to love things with blueberries in them nowadays, which is strange, considering that I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of blueberries at one point.  Silly me.  Blueberries are great on their own, and blueberry pie is just fantastic.  Adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side makes a fantastic blueberry pie even more fantastic…fantastic-er? Nah…that doesn’t sound right…

This blueberry pie is incredibly simple to prepare.  Like other simple pie recipes, this pie is fantastic because of its crust.  The crust comes together in minutes in a food processor, and is incredibly easy to work with.  No breaking or tearing, or anything!  The only problem I had when making the pie was partially my own fault…ok, maybe it was entirely my own fault, but I guess it depends on how you look at things.  I rolled out the pie crust a litttlleee bit too much, so it was a bit on the thin side, but that’s ok.  Some people like thin crust, and it’s not a mistake that can’t be easily fixed the next time around.  Just gotta contain my enthusiasm a bit when rolling out the dough next time!  No biggie.  The crust still held all the yummy blueberry filling perfectly.

The filling was deeelicious.  Like, it seriously was.  It wasn’t overly sweet (always a bonus for me), and it must have been really good, because even my dad said he liked it!  This is the same dad I wrote about in my Challah bread post, the guy who hates fruit desserts…he actually LIKED my blueberry pie!  I was in shock, to say the least. 

This is the perfect dessert to bring along to a summer barbecue or a Fourth of July party.  I decided to make the pie look a little patriotic by covering the top in stars as opposed to creating a lattice.  The recipe below yields enough pie dough to create a lattice, but since I only used star cutouts, I had a lot of pie dough left over.  This is not a big deal though, as you can just use the leftover dough to make cute little mini tarts!  That’s what I’m going to do at least.  Blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream is a dessert that just screams summer, so make one soon…July 4^th is only a couple of days away!

Blueberry Pie

recipe from Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts

Ingredients

For the Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting surface

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water

For the Blueberry Filling

2 pounds fresh blueberries, rinsed (about 6 cups)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 large egg yolk, for egg wash

1 tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash

fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Begin by making the pie dough.  Pulse the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor a few times to combine.  Add the cold butter, and pulse just until the mixture begins to resemble a coarse meal, with some larger pieces remaining.  Drizzle 1/4 cup of the ice water over the mixture, and pulse, just until the dough begins to come together.  If the dough is not coming together, or is too dry, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse.  Divide the dough in half, and form two disks.  Cover each disk with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.   

On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough into a 13-inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick.  Gently transfer the circle of dough to a 9-inch pie plate. 

In a large bowl, combine the blueberries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and lemon juice until evenly mixed.  Pour the entire mixture into the pie plate. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the remaining disk of dough.  To make a lattice, cut the dough into ten 1-inch strips using a pastry wheel.  Lightly brush the edges of the pie with water, and carefully arrange the strips of dough over the top of the pie, weaving them to form a lattice.  Trim the dough to leave a 1-inch overhang, and then carefully fold underneath, and crimp with a fork.  Alternatively, roll out the dough and cut out small stars, and arrange the stars over the pie, trim the edges of the bottom crust to a 1-inch overhang, and fold the overhang underneath itself, and crimp with a fork.  In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolk and heavy cream to make the egg wash.  Brush the top and edges of the pie with the prepared egg wash, and generously sprinkle with sanding sugar.  Refrigerate the pie until it's firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Transfer the pie to a baking sheet, and bake until the crust begins to brown, about 20 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F, and continue to bake until the crust is a deep golden brown and the blueberry juices begin to bubble, about another 55-60 minutes.    If the crust begins to brown a little too quickly, tent the pie with aluminum foil. Transfer the pie to a wire rack, and let cool completely, about 3 hours, before serving.  Enjoy!

Makes 1 9-inch pie.