Kitchen Confidence

I was walking by the market the other day and saw blueberries at 2 half pints for $5.00 and I thought of this great pie recipe I usually make in the summer during blueberry season. So I thought it would be great to bring a little summer into January and share this recipe with you. 

This pie is really the best of both worlds – it’s a blueberry crisp or crumble in a pie shell. It’s quick, easy, and delicious!! I wouldn’t substitute frozen blueberries in this recipe because the texture will be completely different. The beauty of this pie is that the blueberries don’t become that teeth and denture-staining mush that is usually served as Blueberry Pie. You could just as easily omit the pastry and bake it in a baking dish as a crisp. And you could substitute other berries or fruit, or use a different crisp or a crumble topping if you have one that you prefer.

For the pastry shell you can use a slightly sweetened shell if you want but I don’t think it’s necessary. Just add about 2 Tbsp. sugar per pie shell. You can reduce the liquid in the pie shell also to have a more tender crust since the filling of this pie isnt very loose. Use about 2 ozs. liquid (based on 10 ozs. flour) instead of 3ozs. - so that would be 1 egg, or 1 oz. egg + 1 oz. water (remember our hydration formula - this would be a 20% hydration dough).

You could also increase the fat if you want a richer dough. Remember what I said about fat ratios - you can go as high as you dare up to 100 % of the flour weight (and probably higher - but I’ve never tried that). In Pro lingo we also say that this would be a ”shorter” dough, as in shortbread. Fat shortens the strands of gluten that make a tougher, more durable crust, so the more fat you have the more tender the crust. But please remember this is food and your body needs to be nourished, not sent into shock trying to digest all that fat!

Warm Blueberry Pie with Almond Crumb Topping: 

1 9” Pastry Shell from my recent blog on unsweetened pie dough

Filling:

¼ cup AP Flour

2 Tbsp. Cornstarch

2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar

pinch Ground Cinnamon

pinch Ground Nutmeg

1 pint Fresh Blueberries

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Topping:

2 Tbsp. AP Flour

2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar

pinch Ground Nutmeg

1 oz. Butter, unsalted, softened

2 Tbsp. Rolled Oats

¼ cup Almonds, sliced, blanched  

Method:

Oven at 350F.

1. Pre-bake pastry shell as follows: Prick bottom of shell with a fork all over, Cover with foil, or baking parchment, add pie weights (or any dried beans), and bake for about 20 minutes, then carefully remove foil and weights and bake an additional 5 – 10 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. While the pie shell is baking, make the filling as follows: In a small bowl combine dry ingredients. Add the blueberries and the lemon juice and toss gently. Set aside.

3. For the topping: Combine all ingredients and set aside.

4. To assemble and bake: Pour the blueberry filling into the baked pie shell, sprinkle loosely with the topping. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the topping has attained a nice color. Serve while still warm, accompanied by ice cream or whipped cream.

I hope you enjoy the pie - Please comment or send questions and/or suggestions…