Experience Comforting Flavors with Blueberry Pie: Easy Sweet Recipes at Home

Blueberry pie, with its buttery crust, crisp baked lattice topping and moist filling, is simply amazing. While it might not be an Indian staple it was the stuff of books that some of us grew up with and if you have been wanting to make one for a while but haven't the motivation to, this is it. Grab your mittens, tie your apron and go shopping to get the early blueberries and baking ingredients.

The native Americans were already using this delicious globule of a fruit years before colonization of the Americas. They called them the star berries and for them the berries were a source of nutrition and part of their forage. They also used the berries in different forms like crushing and dehydrating the blueberries and turning it into powder form to be consumed as a supplement. It’s no wonder that several years down the line, blueberries are considered to be superfoods. In fact the United States produces 200,000 tons of blueberries annually and is also the world’s largest producer of the berries.

Researchers believe blueberry pie originated in the mid-1800s and the first known blueberry pie recipe appeared in a cookbook from 1872, that used wild blueberries from Maine. However, there may have been an even earlier printed mention of "blueberry pie" in the 1829 New England Farmer journal. The American Civil War also helped spread blueberry pie's popularity after soldiers tried Maine's wild blueberries and brought that taste preference home to other states after the War.

Blueberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients

Pie Crust

• 330 gm all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp buttermilk powder
• 1 ½ tsp table salt
• 225 gm butter (cold, unsalted)
• 120 ml ice water

Pie Filling

• 900 gm blueberries
• 200 gm granulated sugar
• 60 gm all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp butter (melted)
• Cinnamon sugar (for garnishing the top crust)

Instructions

1. Crust: Grab a mixing bowl and mix buttermilk powder, salt and flour. Add the butter using fingertips to mix into a crumbly texture. Now, use a tablespoon to water the buttery mixture, one spoonful at a time. Keep mixing between adding the water. If dough is too sticky, add a little flour; if it's too dry add a little water. Knead the dough and divide into two in a 2:1 ratio. Pop both dough into the fridge for 30 minutes. Pick the larger dough and roll the dough into a 3 mm thick crust, and about 30 cm to 33 cm wide. Pick a 23 cm pie pan and place the flattened dough in it. Refrigerate the crust for a while and preheat your oven to 220°C.
2. Filling: Wash and dry the blueberries thoroughly. Mix the dry ingredients first – flour, sugar and cinnamon. Then add the lemon juice, butter and blueberries. You could mash the blueberries a bit to burst them. Mix again then scoop these into the crust chilling in the fridge.
3. Crust: Roll the other dough, until flat and cut into strips to make the lattice structure. Place delicately over the pie filling. Anything overhanging the sides should be trimmed. Put water in a spray bottle and liberally wet the surface. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar.
4. It’s time to bake now! Pop into the oven for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 180°C. Bake at the lower temperature for 40 minutes, spritz with water if the pie starts to brown in the earlier 15 minutes. Check in regular intervals to see if the filling bubbles up. That's your cue to stick around and watch as the pie turns golden. Once done, remove from heat and let it cool before serving.

Some Substitution Ideas

If traditional blueberry pie recipes bore you, try experimenting by switching up a few of the ingredients. For example: You could add ricotta cheese to the filling for a creamier pie or you could add black pepper combined with a few spices to give the pie a little kick in taste. Try nutty liqueurs, like Amaretto which will give the pie a delicious almond flavor. In lieu of a woven crust top, you could also try a crumble topping made from oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. For an easy pie crust substitute, make a digestive biscuits crust by mixing the biscuit crumbs, molten butter and sugar.