Email to Buny      

Blueberry: Laura & Emmy's Blueberry Pie

Source of Recipe

Beat That! Cookbook


List of Ingredients

PASTRY:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch fresh grated nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut 16 slices
1/4 cup shortening
5 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING:
3 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, wash and pick over
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened raspberries -- (don't thaw them)
milk and sugar for the top crust


Recipe

PASTRY: In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Cut in the butter and shortening, using 2 knives, a pastry blender or your fingers. When the mixture resembles coarse meal, sprinkle in the ice water and vanilla extract. Gently gather the dough into a ball with a fork. Divide it into slightly uneven halves (one half should be larger). Press each half into a disk about 1" thick. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. While they chill, prepare the filling.

FILLING & ASSEMBLY: Preheat the oven to 350ºF, with one rack near the bottom of the oven, the other near the top. Butter the bottom and sides of two 9" pie pans. On a floured surface, roll out the larger half of the dough until it forms a circle 12" in diameter. Line a pie pan with the dough, being careful not to stretch the dough. Crimp the edge. Stick the pie pan in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Put the blueberries in a medium bowl and toss with the lemon juice. Add the rest of the ingredients in order; mix well. Transfer the filling to the second buttered pie pan. Cover the filling with a sheet of foil that you're pierced all over with a fork. Roll out the second half of dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Using an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan as your tracing guide, cut out a circle of pastry. Cut this circle into 8 evenly sized wedges. Transfer the wedges to the foil or parchment lined cookie sheet. Brush them with a pastry brush dipped in milk and sprinkle them with sugar. Ideally the 2 crusts and the filling should be baked at the same time, if you have a two-rack oven; if not, bake the filling separately.

Butter a 12" square of foil and lay it, buttered side down, in the pastry-lined pie pan. Fill the shell with raw rice, raw beans, or other pie weights. Set it on the lower rack; set the dish of blueberry filling next to it. Put the cookie sheet with the cut-out pastry wedges on the top oven rack. Bake everything for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, stir the filling; carefully lift the foil and pie weights out of the pie shell, switch the contents of the upper and lower oven racks, and continue to bake the filling and crusts for 15 minutes more, stirring the filling every 5 minutes.

After 30 minutes, the filling won't be done yet (it needs to bake at least 45 minutes), but the crusts may be. If they're brown enough to suit you, take them out now. If not, leave them in a little longer, making sure to check them often. Stirring every 5 minutes, continue to bake the filling until it's thick and bubbling. After 45 minutes, check the filling often. When it's thick enough to suit you, take it out.

If you're going to serve the pie hot, carefully transfer the baked filling to the baked pie shell. Arrange the wedges of baked top crust over the filling. When you cut the pie, cut around each "top wedge" so that each person will receive a piece of pie that resembles a regular piece. If you're serving the pie cold, you can let the filling cool before putting it into the pie shell, keeping the crust even crisper. Serves 8.