Welcome Home Blueberry Pie

There’s a backstory to the title to today’s post. As well, we’re knee deep in blueberry season! Today you will be rewarded with one of the best blueberry pies I’ve ever made! For this recipe, I make sure to buy lots of fresh blueberries from the farmer’s market. now for the Welcome Home story.

My hubby went on a road trip out to New Jersey to look at a sailboat called “Just Add Water” he saw online. If he liked it, his plan was to purchase and drive back with it. He saw, he liked, he bought. A day into his journey home, after he stopped at a motel in State College, PA, he got an attack of kidney stones at 2:30 am. If you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you know there are few things more agonizing outside of giving birth. 

Wisely, he called a cab and took himself to an Urgent Care center nearby, where they did an x-ray and diagnosed the stone. From there he cabbed over to Mt. Nittany Medical Center, where he was admitted. An MRI revealed a 8 ml kidney stone that had passed out of the kidney and was lodged in the ureter (the tube that runs from the kidney to bladder). Ouch! 

Next day, he was scheduled for the procedure to remove the stone but he spent another night in the hospital to recover. He was discharged the next day and was able to resume his trip home. Thankfully, he arrived home before 11 pm last Saturday night.

So first, I want to thank the Lord Jesus Christ and God for listening to my fervent prayers for his safety and good health; for his divinely blessed choice of stopping in State College, PA where there were nearby hospitals; and safeguarding him during his procedure and subsequent journey home. Thank you Jesus! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So, when I got the call that he would be coming home Friday, I wanted to both welcome him home and celebrate his safe return with something special: a delicious freshly baked blueberry pie!

I had 3 ½ quarts of fresh blueberries In the fridge and a hankering to try a new pie crust recipe that promised a tender and flaky crust. OK: I have a confession to make right here, right now. I usually purchase my piecrusts. But of late, it seems to me that found that the quantity of those roll out piecrusts has shrunk, and they contain “partially hydrogenated lard”, which means unhealthy trans fats, which I know is not good for us. So I’m making my own pie crust from now on!

I have The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion (10th Anniversary Edition) to thank for their excellent and detailed instructions on how to make an ice water piecrust; which taught me how to make the most tender and delectable piecrust ever!   And I found inspiration on how to perk up the flavor of the blueberry filling from my standby cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, and numerous recipes I looked at on Pinterest and Yummly.

Tender and Flaky Ice Water Pie Crust

Diff: Medium Prep Time: 20-35 min + Chill Time 30 min

Bake: 65 min     Total: 2 hrs. 10 min     Serves: 8

 

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

  • ½ cup cold Crisco or vegetable shortening

  • ½ cup cold butter

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ¼ to ½ cup ice water

  • Egg white or milk

Instructions

  • Whisk together the flour and salt in a bowl large enough so that you will be able to put both your hands in it; reserving a few Tablespoons of flour.

  • Cut in half of the Crisco or vegetable shortening, working the mixture until it’s crumbly.

  • Place reserved flour on a work surface and coat the butter (in a single piece) with the flour.

  • Using a rolling pin, or your hand, flatten the fat until it’s 1/2 inch thick.

  • Break the flour coated butter into one inch pieces and mix into the dough until they’re evenly distributed. Some of these pieces of butter will break into smaller pieces, this is okay.

  • Sprinkle the ice water, one Tablespoon at a time, onto the dough, mixing with a fork.

  • Stop mixing as soon as you can easily squeeze the dough into a ball. Visible pieces of butter should appear in the dough.

  • Separate dough ball into two pieces. Flatten each piece into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least ½ hour.

  • Allow dough made with a combination of shortening and butter to rest for 5 minutes at room temperature before rolling.

  • Flour your work surface well to prevent the dough from sticking.

  • Unwrap the first disc of dough and roll out crust to a diameter 3 inches greater that the diameter of the pie pan. Make sure to roll from the center of the disc outward, using as few strokes as possible to achieve your results.

  • Transfer dough to pie pan, folding dough in half or using a spatula to transfer dough. Center dough over pie pan, then gently unfold.

  • Brush bottom of crust with egg white or milk to prevent the crust from getting soggy.

  • Roll out top crust as directed above, but make it an inch smaller in diameter than bottom crust.

  • Fold or roll crust on rolling pin to transfer to top of filled pie.

  • Wet the edges to be sealed with either milk or egg white. Seal, trim and crimp edges, brush top of pie with beaten egg white or egg yolk, cut slits in pie top and sprinkle top liberally with coarse sugar.

 

Blueberry Lemon Filling for Deep Dish Pie

 

Ingredients

  •  7-8 cups fresh blueberries, washed and picked over

  • 1 to 1 ¼ cups sugar

  • 4 – 5 Tablespoons cornstarch

  • 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

  • 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

  • 1-2 Tablespoons butter

Instructions

  • Combine all of the ingredients (except for butter) together gently and let stand for 15 minutes.

  • After 15 minutes, pour the berry mixture into crust brushed with egg white.

  • Dot top of blueberries with butter.

  • Follow topping and finishing instruction given above.

Baking Instructions

  • Before you fill pie, preheat your oven to 425 F°.

  • Bake pie for 30 minutes.

  • Insert baking sheet under pie and reduce heat to 350 F°.

  • If edges get too brown, cover with a pie shield or aluminum foil.

  • Bake an additional 25-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling.

  • Remove and let cool for 4-5 hours before cutting to allow the filling to firm up, if you can wait that long! (My husband couldn’t, so his pie was a little runny when he cut into it!) 

My husband was absolutely delighted that I had made him a pie! He declared it “…a pie to die for” to his daughter; high praise indeed! I know that it seems like a lot of steps to make a pie, but it’s so worth it! And, admit it, it’s kind of fun to have your hands in pie dough!

So I hope you try to make your own pie crust and pie because it’s so much better than anything from the store! I’m sure your family and friends will oooh and aaah over it and, who knows, you could become the talk of your neighborhood for your culinary skills! 

Until next week, I’ll be thanking Jesus daily for my husband’s safe return and all the blessings in my life. Until then, I’m wishing you all of God’s blessings, good health and happy eating!

Smiles and blessings,

Maria

Tags: Blueberries, Desserts, Lemon zest, Pie,

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