August 4, 2009

1st Blueberries, 1st Pie

What better thing to do with a batch of freshly picked blueberries than to bake a pie....

It was as yummy as it looks.
.... and top a generous slice with a little homemade vanilla ice cream.

No Fail Pie Crust

For a 9" pie:
2 & 2/3 cups flour*
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening **(see **, important!)
1 egg
1/4 cup cold water

Cut shortening into flour & salt. Beat egg into water and add to flour mixture. Mix with a fork (not hands) until moist. Divide in half for top & bottom crusts. Roll out, fill, and bake according to directions for fruit pie.

Tip: I roll out my crusts between sheets of vegetable sprayed waxed paper.

* I used 2 cups unbleached white and 2/3 cup white whole wheat

** For the absolutely best tasting pie crust, use Spectrum's Organic All Vegetable Shortening. I'm serious! Fats/oils make a huge flavor difference in everything we eat. Nothing beats Spectrum's for pie crusts and biscuits. Plus it's non-hydrogenated. It's expensive but it's worth it.

Fresh Blueberry Pie Filling

For the 9" crust above:
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 to 1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425° F. Mix all ingredients except butter, using sugar to taste. Pour into unbaked crust. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust, crimp & flute, and cut slits in top crust. Bake 35 to 45 minutes.

I use a pie crust shield like this one to prevent burning of the edge.

1st Blueberries, 1st Pie copyright August 2009 

10 comments:

Michelle said...

I'll have to look in our local health food stores for that shortening, and see if that crust and I can form an alliance. I HATE making crusts, and hate solid shortening; didn't know there is a non-hydrogenated one!

Theresa said...

So,,,do you ship???? :-) Looks positively scrumptious.

charlotte said...

This pie sure looks yummy, I'm getting hungry joust by looking at the pictures in your blog!

bspinner said...

Your pie looks so good I'm getting hungry just looking at the picture.
Thanks for the recipe. I've never used the shortening you mentioned but will try to find some. I love making pie crust.

MiniKat said...

That looks delicious! Savor it for me! ;-)

Woolly Bits said...

that looks sooo good! hm, shortening is a typical american thing? I only know shortening as a very old-fashioned name for lard etc. over here... would butter work? though I suppose I could do an "irish" pie - if only I had the blueberries for the filling:)) I'll have to wait for the blackberries instead....

Leigh said...

I hope you all can find it as it is absolutely delicious. It's too expensive for me to use in cookies, cakes, and other things that call for shortening, but I always use it for pie crust and if I can, for biscuits. I've been liking Smart Balance for cookies and cakes, and have used it in my pie crusts and biscuits, but Spectrum's organic shortening is the absolute best.

Michelle, I did see another non-hydrogenated shortening at the health food store, in sticks in the refrigerated section, but I haven't tried that one yet. I don't even remember the brand.

Bettina, I didn't realize that shortening wasn't more universal so perhaps it is an American ingredient. Actually it replaced lard and is made of hydrogenated soy and cottonseed oils. I found this one when I used to be a member of a food buying club several years ago. Not all health food stores carry it, so I'm always happy to find it when I can. Yes, butter would work, but again, it would affect the flavor. Flavor would still be quite good with butter. Now you've got me curious about Irish pie crust! Can you give us a recipe? And how then do they make pasties???

Life Looms Large said...

Looks scrumptious! I could go for a piece right now.....maybe I should make dinner?

Sue

Renee Nefe said...

oh that looks soooooo good!

Sharon said...

I've never used an egg in my crust - learned to make crusts from my grandmother. I think the big thing I learned from her was to cut half of the shortening into the flour completely, then cut the other half in equally well - coat all the flour totally with the fat. I vote for butter, but whatever.

The thing you can't quantify is how much moisture you're going to need. You really have to know when to roll by how it by feels, since weather conditions change the amount of water from from pie to pie. Too dry, you have tough crust. Too wet, big mess. The first thing I noticed on your pie was how flaky the crust it - great job!!