Monday, September 20, 2010

Blueberry Bliss



There are some summers that these blueberries actually never make it to my kitchen. I find myself just standing in my back yard eating these luscious berries, by the hand fulls, right off the branches of my blueberry bushes! The more I'd eat, the more bushes my husband would plant!



Luckily for my family, this years crops were so bountiful, that I was forced to share with the rest of the tribe. I'm not real sure but, I think that we have close to twenty some bushes, maybe more. I also think that not only are blueberries one of the friendliest berries to pick, they are also the easiest to clean and eat.


They make fabulous jams.....




.....and amazing pies!


Blueberry Pie


Preheat your oven to 400o F and bake pie for 40-45 minutes or until crust is slightly browned and blueberry filling is bubbling.


For the crust: (this fits a 9" deep dish pie plate)
2- cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vinegar
6 Tablespoons iced water (I put water in with ice cubes to make sure is ice cold)

For the filling:
6 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour or corn starch
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon


Measure flour into bowl. With pastry blender, cut in butter until particles are the size of giant peas. Sprinkle with iced water (with your two teaspoons of vinegar) a Tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a fork, until all flour is moistened. Gather dough together with fingers so it cleans the bowl. Press firmly into a ball. Then turn out on lightly floured board.

Divide the dough in half and flatten one of halves with your hand. Roll out not quite 1/8" thick. Roll lightly being careful not to add extra flour. Keep rounding edge of pastry, if it begins to break, pinch edges back together.

Keep pastry circular and roll it about 1" larger all around than pie pan. Fold pastry in half and carefully transfer to pie pan. Unfold pastry and place loosely into pan, being careful not to stretch it out (stretching causes pastry to shrink during baking). Press the dough gently into the pie pan so that no air remains.

For the filling, in a large bowl gently mix blueberries, sugar, flour or cornstarch, lemon zest and juice until berries are completely coated. Pour blueberry mixture into pie pan evenly.

Roll out other half of pastry and place on top of pie filling. Crisp edges together tightly to form a seal with the bottom pastry dough, crimping the edges. Make sure to make slits in the middle of the pie to allow the steam to escape while baking.

Preheat your oven to 400o F and bake pie for 40-45 minutes or until crust is slightly browned and blueberry filling is bubbling.






I usually let the tribe know, well in advanced, the day I am making blueberry pies so that they know not to be late..as they all know far to well, when it comes to Blueberries, mom can not be trusted!


~enjoy

2 comments:

Lynette Jacobs said...

This looks so yummy!

Christine said...

It was yummy!...lol If you were a little closer I'd of saved ya a slice!