I made this pie for my dad because:
1. It was his 64th birthday.
2. He loves blueberry pie.
3. I love him!
4. I wanted to impress my family with homemade pie crust. (And did!)
Oh! This pie!! There were times I felt like giving up because the dough was being a bit obnoxious when I was rolling it out. Parts of it crumbled and I felt like all I was doing was piecing it together. I mostly blame the temperature outside mixed with my lack of patience. It also didn’t help that I drank a bunch of wine the night before with my family and didn’t sleep well. With a glass of red wine and a long deep sigh, I finished what I started. There’s nothing that says I love you more than a homemade blueberry pie. Right? We devoured this fantastic lemon scented blueberry pie. My dad was proud, and we had such a wonderful evening!
Happy Birthday Dad! And thank you to Martha Stewart. This recipe worked out fabulously!
Ok. Deep breath! Let’s make the crust. Pulse flour & salt together in a food processor.
Add the chunks of butter and pulse a few times til your dough comes together.
Dump it out, and form two discs. Wrap them up and chill them in the fridge for at least a 1/2 hour.
Take the dough out of the fridge, and on a floured work surface roll them out into 12 inch rounds.
Place the bottom crust carefully in the pie pan. Look at that pretty view! And my wine! NOM!
Just looking at this frustrates me. This is the top of the pie. This & the pie shell go into the fridge for a bit.
Grate some lemon zest into a bowl of blueberries.
Add the cornstarch, sugar & lemon juice. Stir!!
Take a couple handfuls of blueberries and squeeze them in your hands! Now mix!
Put the blueberries in the pie shell. Stud with butter. Top the pie with the other pie crust.
Get your egg yolk & cream together.
Crimp the edges of the pie and then brush the egg/cream mixture on top. Refrigerate for a bit.
Now your pie is ready to bake!
Mine leaked a little…but that’s all part of the seduction.
Serve it up! I topped each slice with some vanilla bean ice cream in my mom’s fancy bowls!
It’s soo ooey & gooey.
There’s definitely no shortage of blueberries in this pie!
Blueberry Pie
(recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)
Makes one 9-inch pie
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- Pate Brisee
- 8 cups (about 4 pints) blueberries, picked over
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out one disk of dough to a 12-inch round. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate, pressing it into edges. Trim dough to a 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold edge of dough over or under, and crimp as desired. Roll out remaining dough in the same manner; transfer dough (on parchment) to a baking sheet. Chill pie shell and dough until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Place blueberries in a large bowl; with your hands, crush about 1/2 cup of berries, letting them fall into the bowl as you work. Add sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; stir to combine. Spoon mixture into chilled pie shell, mounding berries slightly in the center. Dot with butter. Remove dough from refrigerator, and place over blueberry filling. Tuck edge of top dough between edge of bottom dough and rim of pan. Using your fingers, gently press both layers of dough along the edge to seal, and crimp as desired.
- Using a paring knife, cut several vents in top of dough to allow steam to escape. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and cream. Brush surface with egg wash, being careful not to let it pool. Freeze or refrigerate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in lower third.
- Place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until crust begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking, rotating sheet halfway through, until crust is deep golden brown and juices are bubbling and have thickened, 40 to 50 minutes more. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely. The pie is best eaten the day it is baked, but it can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small
- 1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.)
- With machine running, add ice water through feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
