Shiny Cooking

Blueberry pie ranks right up there. Number two after sour cherry pie, for sure. I’d always had blueberry pie that was baked, but the blueberries this year are so fabulous — large, and the perfect sweet-tart combination — that I wanted to do one that was more strawberry pie-style.

In other words, blueberries mixed with a thickening agent and set inside a prebaked shell of some sort. So the flavor of the fresh berries would burst through.

KAF came through! That’s the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book. Remember that, because I’m not going to repeat it.

The original recipe in KAF called for 1 cup of sugar. Based on scientific evidence — Mom had just made a fresh blueberry pie using another recipe calling for 3/4 cup sugar and turns out is was JUST. TOO. SWEET. — I cut it to 1/4 cup. I don’t know why you’d want more, unless you’re some kind of stereotypical sugar-loving animal whose name escapes me at the moment. Plus if you use the walnut-oat crust, you’re getting some more sugar there.

why is there no picture of the entire pie?

Because I was madly baking it, and cookies, and zucchini bread, before going to Gun Lake. And I didn’t get a picture of it before we half-demolished it. It was chilly, and dark, and rainy. Poor light for food porn anyway.

These were truly the best I could do. They do not do the pie justice.

How about some lakeside fun distraction before the recipe

G & B hurtling towards icy lake water. Have fun, guys.

Yeah, that looks fun. And warm, judging by that windbreaker. And not at all so windy there are whitecaps on the lake. Newp.

When the windsock is horizontal, that’s a clue.

It was sunny like this for the five minutes each day between when the sun lowered between the cloud cover and the trees in the west. Yay.

But we got to play games! Like this one, Last Days of Pompeii, and Ticket to Ride: Europe, and Ghost Party. I liked TtR:E more than I thought, particularly because I kicked ass and totally won our second game. J thought Pompeii was “mean” just because you throw people into a volcano. Hmph. (Side note: Becky is coming back to town very very soon, bearing games like Citadels, Diamant, and Power Grid, none of which I’ve played and all of which I’m drooling to play. So. Excited.)

Oh, yeah. You came for pie.

fresh blueberry pie

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, aka My Favorite Baking Cookbook Ever. Reprinted with permission.

prep: 20 minutes
to table: 90 minutes
servings: 8

1 prebaked pastry shell or walnut-oat crust
4 cups (1-1/4 pounds) fresh blueberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1 ounce) cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine 2 cups of the blueberries with the sugar in a large saucepan. Mix the cornstarch with the lemon juice and water, stirring till smooth, and add to the blueberries.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened. The liquid will quickly turn hot pink, and then deepen as the blueberries release their juices. This cornstarch mixture thickens really quickly and well. Remove from heat, and add the remaining uncooked berries, stirring to combine. Stir in the vanilla.

Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Spoon the blueberry filling into the baked pie shell. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Variation: You can make this with frozen blueberries instead.

tags: blueberries

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