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Blueberry Pie from Scratch

If you are new to making your own pie crust at home, you might be feeling nervous about trying it out for the first time. Have no fear--With the help of a food processor and some time spent resting in the fridge, this pie crust comes out flaky and doesn’t take much active working time.
Serve this homemade blueberry pie up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

For the Top & Bottom Pie Crusts:

  • 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 stick very cold salted butter cut into small cubes
  • ¼ cup ice water plus an additional Tablespoon or two, if needed
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 Tbsp water

For the Pie Filling:

  • 5-6 cups fresh blueberries washed and drained
  • ¾ cup white granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground allspice
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • 2 Tbsp salted butter cut into small cubes
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Juice of ½ lemon

Instructions

For the Top & Bottom Pie Crusts:

  • In a food processor, combine the all-purpose flour, white granulated sugar, and kosher salt.
  • Pulse the dry ingredients in the food processor quickly until combined.
  • *“Pulse” just means to switch the food processor on and off really quickly, instead of leaving the food processor running in the “on” position.
  • Add in your cubed cold salted butter, and pulse again quickly a few times until the flour begins to become incorporated with the butter cubes.
  • Pour in the extremely cold ice water and pulse the mixture a few more times in the food processor, until the mixture begins to come together and forms a large blob of dough with dots of cold butter mixed in.
  • Pour the contents out onto a clean work surface, and cut the dough into two pieces.
  • Form each piece of dough into a dough ball by pressing the dough together with your hands until it forms a compact ball.
  • *You will have one piece of dough for your bottom crust, and another for your top crust.
  • Cover the two dough balls individually with plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge to rest for an hour or more.
  • When your dough balls have rested for an hour in the fridge (or overnight, or if you prefer), remove the first dough ball from the fridge and transfer it onto a lightly floured, clean work surface.
  • *Save a little extra flour on the side for flouring your rolling pin and adding flour to your dough as you roll it out.
  • Roll the first dough ball out using a rolling pin into a roughly 12” circular shape that is large enough to fill your pie dish and come up over the sides by about ½”.
  • *While you roll the dough out to a uniform thickness, make sure to keep to dough lightly floured and moving constantly, so it doesn’t stick to your work surface or rolling pin.
  • Gently fold the circular pie crust that you have just rolled out in half, and transfer the rolled-out and folded crust to your pie dish.
  • *Folding the thin dough gently in half at this stage makes it easier to transfer the crust into the pie dish without ripping it.
  • Unfold the pie crust gently, making sure the crust occupies the full space of the pie dish and comes up the sides, with a slight overhang of dough roughly ½” beyond the outer edges of the pie dish.
  • *If you rip your dough at all during this process, just take a little extra dough and press it into the hole that you have made--Everything will be fine!
  • Use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to carefully cut off any excess dough that hangs more than ½” beyond the edge of the pie dish.
  • For your egg wash, combine the whole egg with the 1 Tbsp of water and whisk for a minute or two to fully combine.
  • Use a pastry brush or your clean fingers to gently coat the bottom layer of pie crust that you placed into the pie dish with a very thin layer of the egg wash.
  • Save the excess egg wash for the top layer of your pie crust that will be added on top of the blueberry pie filling.
  • Place the pie dish with the bottom layer of crust in the fridge while you prepare the pie filling.

For the Pie Filling:

  • Preheat oven to 390F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the washed and drained fresh blueberries, white granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn starch, Kosher salt, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, ground ginger, cubed salted butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
  • Mix until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.
  • Pour the filling gently into your prepared pie dish that has been resting in the fridge.
  • Roll out the top layer of your pie crust onto a floured surface until it is larger than the size of your pie dish.
  • Place the top crust layer onto the pie dish that contains the filling.
  • Use your thumbs and fingers to gently crimp the edges of the bottom pie crust together with the top pie crust.
  • Gently spread the remaining egg wash over the top of the pie crust.
  • Cut small holes in the top layer of pie crust to allow for some ventilation.
  • *You can make a little design here, if you like. You can also use a fork to prick little holes all over the top layer of pie crust before it bakes. Try making a lattice design if you want to try something more challenging!
  • Bake the blueberry pie in the oven at 390F for roughly 20 minutes.
  • After the pie has baked for 20 minutes at 390F, reduce the heat to 350F and continue to bake at 350F for an additional 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
  • *If you notice that the crust is getting too dark around the edges, you can cover the edges of your crust with some aluminum foil and leave the center area exposed so the center of the pie can continue to brown.
  • When the pie has finished baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool roughly 2 hours at room temperature.
  • Serve slices of pie with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Notes

  • You can make the pie dough a day in advance of rolling out the crust and baking the pie.
  • You can save the excess dough you cut off and use it: Simply roll it out again, cut it into thin 1” strips, sprinkle the strips with a cinnamon-sugar or fruit jam mixture, and roll the dough back up and bake it on parchment until golden-brown for an amazing and tasty snack.
  • My grandfather enjoys a large slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream for breakfast.