This recipe went really wrong, and once again I predicted it; I knew it would need more thickener, but of course I ignored logic and rushed headfirst into disaster. To make a long story short, I baked my pie, let it cool, realized the filling was very soupy, picked off all of the crust decorations, poured the filling into a saucepan, added two tablespoons of tapioca flour, brought it to a boil, and then dumped it all back into the pie shell, and garnished the pie again with the removed crust decorations. The pie was still edible, if a bit on the congealed side, but the only other option was to pour the whole thing into a blender and make blueberry pie smoothies. Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure they would have been some kick-butt smoothies, but it wasn’t quite what was I aiming for. Luckily, none of the pie-partakers seemed to mind the congealed factor, and the pie plate returned home almost empty, so I’m considering this somewhat saved disaster a lucky win. Just a head’s up; I altered the recipe below to reflect how the pie should actually be made, but feel free to muck it all up like I did if you want to go that route and indulge in some blueberry pie smoothies.
Ingredients: Filling:
- 2 Pounds (6 Cups) Fresh Blueberries
- 4 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons Tapioca Flour
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
Crust:
- 1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Cup Very Cold Unsalted Butter, Cut into Small Pieces
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- Vodka (Approximately 19 Teaspoons)
Garnish:
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large saucepan, and heat over high heat, stirring constantly.
- Cook until the sauce becomes very thick, remove from heat, and set aside.
- Combine flour, sugar, and salt.
- Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture with your hands, just until you have pea-sized pieces of butter speckled through out the dough.
- Sprinkle the flour mixture with the vanilla, and then add the vodka a teaspoon at a time, until the dough comes together.
- Pat the dough into a disk, and turn it out onto a flour-covered surface.
- Roll the dough out into a large circle, using a flour-covered rolling pin.
- Place the crust into a pie plate, cut off any excess dough, and press the edge of the crust down with the tines of a fork.
- Use any extra dough to make cut out designs for on top of the pie.
- Brush the crust designs and edges with an egg wash, and then sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake for 20 minutes on the lowest rack in your oven.
- Remove the pie and cover with a couple of layers of tin foil, and then bake on the middle rack of your oven for 10 minutes.
Suggestions:
- Fold the rolled pie crust in half, and then in half again, before placing the pointed tip of the fold in the exact center of the pie dish.
- Make optional dough designs at least a 1/4-inch thick.
Improvements:
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
- Add the zest of 1 orange and 2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier in lieu of the lemon zest and juice.
- Add ground almonds to the dry ingredients of your piecrust.
Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck
-Colleen
